Missed Call
by GeneralQuistis-Zhakeena
Summary: You get a call from Aerith. She sings an eerie song. 24 hours later, you die. Only Cloud can stop this, but how can Tifa and Vincent convince him that he should help them?... or will they all die in the end?
1. Prologue

Missed Calls

By GQ and Zhak

GQ's note: Inspired by a Japanese horror movie but this isn't necessarily a parody of that movie. However, this is an A.U… somewhat events were based from Advent Children and some events from the game. We're not Aerith-haters or Tifa-bashers whatsoever. If you find anything offensive about the story regarding these girls, just leave and kill yourself. smirks

Disclaimer: We don't own anything except maybe some plots… just _some_ plots. The song _Close to You_ belongs to The Carpenters… and _Aerith's Theme_ belongs to Square. The idea of the story came from the movie "_One Missed Call_", but the events in this fic do not necessarily follow the exact events and plots in the movie.

oOoOo

**Prologue: It Starts…**

Reno, Rude and Elena just arrived from a Turk Mission and went back to the Healin Lodge where the President is. "Finally! We can rest!" Elena gasped in relief as she plopped down on the sofa inside the President's room.

Rufus was just seated on his wheelchair, staring blankly at the Turks. "Were you able to retrieve the information?" he asked seriously.

"Here you go, Prez!" Reno gave a piece of paper to the President. "But I think that's useless now because… we accidentally killed the boss already who owns that number." He continued with a sheepish look on his face.

Rufus was silent for a while before crumpling the piece of paper. "Fine. What's the use of this telephone number if the person I'd like to warn about his death is already dead?" he asked with a slight smirk on his face, feeling proud of his Turks.

"It's a slip of the finger, Mister President. I accidentally pulled the trigger when I said, _freeze!_ And the next thing I knew, BANG! He's dead!" Elena said with a victorious look on her face.

Reno pulled out his mobile phone and put it on top of the end table by the couch. "May I use your bathroom, Prez?" he asked.

"Go ahead. Just don't mess things up." Rufus warned.

"Yeah, yeah," Reno went inside the bathroom.

Rude was standing by the President's side while Elena was still chatting about their adventure… and they all froze when they heard some polyphonic ringing tone sounding. Even though the tone sounded like a midi file, the melody was still haunting… it's as if they were listening to it on the piano it was originally played on. It sounded something angelic… and peaceful.

_Aerith's Theme_

"Whose is that?" Elena asked.

Rufus shook his head. "That's not my tone."

Rude turned to Reno's mobile phone and saw it lighting up. All eyes turned to it. Elena inspected it and saw the caller I.D. "Hmm… just the number. No name." she announced. And she giggled. "The ringing tone isn't Reno. Heehee!"

"The number must not be in his mobile phone's contacts list that's why it's just the number…" Rufus mumbled.

Elena rushed to the bathroom door and started knocking, "Hey, Reno! It's yours!" she called out.

"What, the call?" Reno asked from inside. Turns out he could hear it too. "It's not my ringing tone." He pointed out.

"Well it's ringing." Elena said, crossing her arms.

Reno opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom but he was still zipping up his pants in the process. "Ew! Did you even wash your hands!" she told him.

"Yeah, whatever." Reno replied, but just as when he was about to get his phone, it stopped ringing. He just flipped it open and saw that he had a missed call. "Better check it…" he went to the missed call list and was surprised to see his own mobile phone number there. "What the-…" he stammered.

"Why?" Rufus asked.

"It's my number!" Reno announced.

"Why would you even call yourself?" Elena pointed out in sarcasm.

"I _won't_ call myself even if I was the last bored person in the Planet! I was in the goddamn bathroom, for cryin' out loud!" Reno snapped impatiently.

"Why don't you check the voicemail? Maybe you have a message there." Rude suggested. Reno just shook his head in disbelief before dialing his voicemail number and put his phone against his right ear, listening to the computer-operated voice, "_You have one new message dated December 8. Time: 15:57."_

Elena was listening beside him and to their awe, they just heard someone singing, "_Why do birds suddenly appear everytime you are near? Just like me, they long to be close to you…_"

Reno raised an eyebrow. "Is this some kind of a joke!" he demanded. But they continued to listen. The background seemed very quiet, and only the voice of the singer could be heard. It was a young lady with a very gentle and angelic-sounding voice… but it sounded so familiar to both of them.

"That's strange. Your voicemail took _that_ message as fast as a minute… and your phone's been ringing for about a minute… and then the song is like, more than two minutes long?" Elena asked in confusion.

Silence.

"Maybe that's a prank." Rude pointed out.

"It's a pretty good one, then. The message is dated December 8… that's tomorrow, right?" Elena asked as she held her arm nervously. She already felt goose bumps rising to the surface of her skin.

"Who would play a prank like this anyway? It's my own number… and I hate this song! It's one of those oldies!" Reno snapped before ending the call and putting the phone back inside his pocket.

"What's the song?" Rufus asked curiously.

"Close to You." Elena replied with a confused look on her face.

They all fell silent as they began to ponder about it.

Reno just shrugged. "Oh well never mind. I'll just go to the kitchen to check out some food." He said before leaving.

Elena just bit her lip. She does not really feel so well about the call. "Reno, wait up!" she called out, deciding to follow after him, leaving Rude and Rufus inside the room.

"Stay here and guard me." Rufus instructed. Rude just nodded and went over to the couch to sit down while Rufus proceeded to read a book by the window. The room was quiet and Rude just glanced at his watch and checked the date and looked outside the window. "It's only December 7…" he thought silently.

Not known to Rude, Rufus was also pondering about it. "Strange… is the telecom company having problems?" he thought as he turned the page.

OoOoO

_December 8; __14:30__…_

"Yahoo! The Prez gave us an off…" Reno cheered as he leaned back on the lounge chair in a bar.

Elena twirled the straw in her drink uneasily. Reno eyed her questioningly and raised an eyebrow. "Well, you're not exactly drinking your arse off in joy there, 'Lena. What's bothering you?"

Elena sighed. "Oh… nothing," she said mindlessly. He noticed how her eyes strayed to her wristwatch every now and then. "Why do you keep looking at the time?"

She bit her lower lip and sipped her cocktail to avoid answering. She felt uneasy, the way Reno was staring at her like that, so she cleared her throat and asked, "Hey, where's Rude? He's gone for, like, 7 minutes now."

Reno laughed. "Oh, you know. The cheese sticks gave him indigestion. If you know what I mean," he said, smiling a bit naughtily at her. "But don't think about him now. Let's take advantage of being alone."

Elena forced a smile and a giggle. "Reno!..."

"Now c'mon. Tell me what's bothering you…" he said as he moved his hand to hold her face, but she interrupted him with a, "What time did you receive that prank voice mail message again?"

He paused briefly and shrugged. "I dunno. Don't remember."

Elena sighed again. Reno frowned and drank from his beer bottle. "What's the big deal anyway? It's just a prank."

"I… don't know… it's just… oh never mind," she replied, brightening up a bit. "Yeah, it's just a prank, nothing more! I shouldn't read too much into things!"

"That's good," Reno said. "Geez, Elena, you have a knack for ruining day offs…"

"Sorry." Elena checked her watch again. "Hey, Rude's taking a really long time… maybe you should go see him or something…"

"No need," Reno pointed behind her, where Rude was seen walking out of the lavatories looking very stressed. "Yo, Rude. Feeling any better?"

Rude shook his head. "I'm headin' back. Not feeling well," he told them as he laid a hand on his stomach.

"Gee, Rude, maybe we should head back to the Lodge with you," said Elena with a look of worry on her face, but Rude shook his head again. "The President told us to buy several items for him before we head back," he said.

Reno nodded slowly. "Oh, yeah… I remember. He gave you the shopping list, right, Rude?" The bald man answered by handing him the list and some money. The red-head opened the list and tilted his head. "Don't worry, buddy. We'll take care of this," he said, patting his shoulder.

"I owe you one," said Rude before walking out of the bar.

Elena moved near Reno and looked at the sheet of notebook paper. "Gee… the medicines I understand, but… bathroom items?" she asked as her eyes scanned the list.

"Yeah. Shampoo, conditioner, bath salts, a new scrub… he's got more stuff in here than what a girl would need. That's vanity for you," he said before pocketing the list. "Well, shall we head over to the drug store then?"

Elena checked out her watch before standing up. "Let's."

oOoOo

They took quite some time in the drug store. It was hard finding the brand of shampoo that President Rufus likes, along with a soap that's ¼ moisturizing cream. But the medicine part was fairly easy because they didn't need those rare contra-Geostigma drugs, the President only asked for a few headache-relief tablets and lozenges.

Finally, Reno and Elena were done. Plastic bags in hand, they began walking out on the sidewalks. "Man, that took us long enough. What time is it?" he asked.

Elena glanced at her wristwatch. "Ah… 15:55? No, make that 15:56. Almost 4 in the afternoon," she said before stopping in her tracks.

Reno paused. "What's wrong?" he asked.

She walked a bit on the side. "There's an open manhole in our path. Almost missed it…" she said as she began walking around it.

The red-headed Turk snorted. "It's not as if you'll fall to your death or anything if you do fall in. In fact, it would be sorta funny. Heheh…" he said as he easily walked next to it.

"Oh, shut up, Reno!" she said in fake annoyance. She turned around and saw that he stopped walking. "Hey, what are you standing there for?" she asked.

"I… I don't know… can't move my feet…" he said, staring at the ground.

"Huh?" Elena walked closer to him. "What do you mean?"

"I…" was the last thing Reno said before an invisible force pulled him inside the manhole. He didn't have the time to scream. Elena stood there frozen. She heard a crunch from the manhole.

She stared for a good 5 seconds before she gathered enough wits to realize what had just happened. "RENO!" she yelled as she poked her head into the manhole. Since it was dark inside and she could not see anything from up there, she jumped in the manhole and landed clumsily. It was dry concrete underneath, and it was a long way up to the streets. She fumbled in the blazer of her Turk uniform for a flashlight she always carried around.

She clicked it open. And she screamed. The flashlight fell on the floor, and the light its bulb created beamed on the object of her horror.

Reno had apparently landed head-first. His skull had literally cracked open. Blood was flowing freely from his head, creating a puddle of dark red blood on the ground.

"Oh… my…" Elena stammered hysterically. She began choking when she realized that the fall had instantly killed her fellow Turk. "My… my…"

But she recoiled when Reno began choking. His throat made a funny sound. Elena watched in horror as something round began emerging from his mouth. Popping in between his teeth, the object slid freely out of his mouth and rolled harmlessly towards her, and stopped at her feet.

She fell on her knees and picked the object up. She could barely make out the color in the dim light, but she could tell that it was green. "Ma… teria…" she said in a frantic whisper.

And then she sat there motionlessly, just staring at Reno's corpse. Tearfully, she looked at her fellow Turk, and couldn't believe that she didn't prevent this from happening—it was such a simple accident, but it was so fatal…

_Tum tum tum… tum tum tum… _

Her eyes widened upon hearing the tune.

_Tum tum tum tum tum tum tum tum tum… tum… _

The same ringing tone that she heard yesterday from Reno's phone. The beautiful, yet haunting one. The calm polyphonic tune that almost sounds like it came from the piano. _Aerith's Theme _

But this time, it didn't come from Reno's phone. The sound came from her own pocket.

Horrified, she slowly took her cell phone from her jacket and saw the number of the caller. _03409899765. _

Her own number.

The ringing stopped. A message on her phone read: "1 missed call."

Mindlessly, she entered the voice mailbox number on her phone and began dialing. She nervously waited for the automated voice to tell her the message—

_"You have 1 new message dated December 9. Time: __16:00__." _

And then she heard it; the song she heard just yesterday. _"Why do birds suddenly appear? Everytime you are near?" _

She let the phone drop from her grasp. Shadows were already beginning to block the light from above; a few people had heard her screaming and were peering in curiously. "Miss? Do you need help?"

She sobbed helplessly as a reply. She crawled towards Reno and looked up. "Yes! Help! Please!"

_"Just like me, they long to be… close to you…" _

oOoOo

_December 9; __15:58_

"Elena?"

She didn't answer. President Rufus and Rude eyed each other before turning back to the Turk seated on a chair in front of them. Rufus sighed. "Are you ready to talk yet?"

Elena pursed her lips together. "Reno's dead…" she choked out.

"Please tell us how it happened," Rufus told her patiently.

She bit her lower lip and sniffed. She still could not find the right words to say what's really on her mind. She has suspicions on what really happened… but they were very unscientific; and she had known the President to be a very scientific person who wouldn't believe a single thing unless there is empirical evidence or data. She just sat still in silence with her eyes wide open as she stared at the President with fear in her eyes.

"I think she needs to talk to a psychiatrist," Rufus was thinking silently, realizing that the female Turk hasn't mentioned anything yet ever since she got out of the manhole, except that she kept on repeating "Reno's dead…" for several instances already. For all he knew, she could have killed Reno and was just acting innocent, trying to think of someone or something else to blame for his death. But he resolved that he would not make a brash decision unless he hears Elena's explanation whether it be true or not… he would be the judge of that. "Elena," he began with a stern tone, still trying to remain calm and patient. He could feel that time is running out, but he does not know why he felt that way.

Silence.

"What time is it, Rude?" Rufus asked, thinking that if the girl wouldn't talk, he would just do something else like send her to a psychiatrist, since he felt like he did not want to waste his time on Elena when he had so much more to do, although he did feel concerned about his employee's condition. He had only two Turks left… two employees from ShinRa. Losing another one would make it difficult for him.

"It's 3:59, sir." Rude replied.

Elena's eyes widened, remembering the time when she received the call. "What's the date today?" she demanded as she instantly got up and rushed to Rude and the President.

"It's the 9th of December, Elena." Rufus pointed out.

She felt her hairs rising and she swallowed hard as she kept her eyes on Rude's sunglasses. There was a young lady with long wavy brown hair being reflected from the glass… and she was standing just behind Elena. Elena instantly turned around, but there was no one there.

"What is it, Elena?" Rufus asked.

"There was someone here." She said.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"There was someone standing here! A…a lady… I… I saw her reflection on Rude's sunglasses!" she explained with a worried look on her face.

Rufus could see the extreme fear in Elena's eyes but he did not say anything else. He just motioned for Rude come closer so that he could say something private to him as Elena walked towards the window. "Maybe she jumped out of the window while I wasn't looking…" she stated with a deranged look on her face. She opened the windows and looked outside, scanning the whole area for any sign of a lady with long wavy brown hair.

"Go call the psychiatrist." Rufus commanded in a low serious tone. Rude nodded, "Yes sir," he said flatly before leaving the room.

Rufus turned to the wall clock and saw the time. "4:00" He turned to Elena again and said, "Elena, let's talk," he told her sternly.

Elena turned around to face him, but she gasped when she saw the lady standing behind Rufus. She took a step backward and leaned against the windowsill as she stared wide-eyed at the lady.

The lady's face was covered with her long wavy brown hair but she seemed to smile at her… and then her mobile phone began to ring with the same tone she heard on Reno's tone and her own phone yesterday. She got her phone from her pocket and saw that her own number is calling her again… and she saw the time: 4:00:15…

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Rufus asked curiously, although he could recognize that the ringing tone was also the tone he heard from Reno's phone the day before he died.

Elena threw the phone away from herself as she screeched and backed away further, touching the ledge of the window. She knew she was going to die… just like Reno… it became clear to her. But she needed to do something so she turned to Rufus and began, although she was shaking hard, "President Rufus, my own number is calling me… and… it happened to Reno but it was his own number too… and do you remember the voice message? And the time and date of call? It was… it was…" she trailed off when she felt a pair of hands grab her head. She froze when she heard a young lady's voice singing in her ear, "_On the day that you were born the angels go together and decided to create a dream come true… so they sprinkled moondust in your hair; of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue…"_ although her song is not the ringing tone that was still ringing. Elena opened her mouth to say something… "Aerith!"

Rufus's eyes widened when he heard the name, but before he could react further, he just gaped in awe as he watched Elena fall backwards outside the window.

He froze, his emotions mixed with unexplained terror and confusion, but he just kept still.

The ringing stopped.

Pulling himself together, he carefully wheeled himself towards the window and peeked outside. The blanket that was covering his head slid off as he gazed at Elena's dead body on the ground, lying on the hard pavement. Her neck looked broken and blood was leaking from her mouth. Her eyes were staring into death's emptiness.

"President Rufus," Rude arrived. He stared curiously at the President and wondered why he was looking outside the window without the blanket covering his head and his face.

Rufus slowly turned to Rude with a cold look on his face before turning his gaze to Elena's mobile phone that was just lying on the floor. Rude approached the President and looked outside the window… "What the-…" he reacted in shock.

Rufus just stared horridly at the mobile phone on the floor. He still could not get over the fact that Elena mentioned a certain name before she fell out the window. He just swallowed hard, "Aerith…" he thought silently before telling Rude, "Get me my mobile phone. I have to call someone…" he instructed with a stern tone.

* * *

So how did you find the prologue? Oo'


	2. What Does She Want?

**Chapter One: What Does She Want?**

* * *

"Why do stars fall down from the sky…" Barret hummed as he poured himself a glass of juice. He was visiting Tifa's bar in Sector 7 of Midgar, and the song, an old and unpopular love song, was playing on the radio.

"Jus' like me, they long to be…" he continued to hum, cursing himself if ever anybody catches him singing. He can't help it, the song, even though incredibly fluffy and love-sick, was catchy. Of course, at the moment, nobody was in the bar yet—Cloud was somewhere where they do not know… probably in the Church again. Tifa and Marlene went out to the drugstore to buy more bandages for Denzel, who was sound asleep in the bedrooms at the second floor of the bar. As for Barret, he was just waiting to see Marlene again before he went off again to find an alternate energy source to Mako—

He paused. The old radio began buzzing static before it turned off completely. And then… a phone began ringing.

"Landline's ringin'… guess I gotta answer it," he thought. "H'lo?" he asked. He didn't check out who was calling at the moment, though, and was surprised at the voice who answered back at him.

"Hello? Is this…7th Heaven Bar?"

Barret frowned slightly. "Yeah. This who I think it is?"

The voice at the other end paused for a brief second before replying, "This is President Rufus ShinRa. I would like to speak with Cloud Strife."

_The ShinRa brat?__ What does he want with Cloud? _"Well he ain't home. Dunno where he is." he answered cautiously.

"I see…" said the voice, with a tone that Barret thought was quite obnoxious. "Well, is there anybody else there who knows where he is? Miss Lockheart, perhaps? I really need to know where Cloud is."

"Nobody else knows, actually. How important is this anyway?" Barret asked impatiently. Rufus could be so stubborn.

"_Very important._But… I mustn't leave things to you, Mr. Wallace… I must tell him this personally."

Barret's frown deepened. He didn't trust Rufus ShinRa before, and he still wouldn't trust the brat that once ordered his execution. What is he up to now, he wondered. "Well, tough luck, he ain't available now. Call later or I'll just tell him to call ya back, a'ight?"

"Fair enough." Rufus hung up. Barret glared at the phone in hopes of getting the message to the President, but afterwards, he just tossed the cordless nonchalantly on the table again and began chugging down his juice.

He stopped mid-gulp when he heard a polyphonic ringing tone in the room. The song wasn't anything he'd ever heard before, but it seemed familiar all the same… calm, therapeutic, and serene… but tragic at the same time. The first memory that triggered in his brain was the lake in the Ancient Capital… and he felt a slight twinge in his chest.

He snapped out of his trance and reminded himself that another phone was ringing. It certainly wasn't the landline, since the landline doesn't have any polyphonic ringing function… he searched the room for the source of the sound, but he didn't find or hear any other phone from any other point in the room but…

Wait. It was coming from his vest.

"The hell! That ain't my ringing tone…" he muttered in confusion as he took out his own phone from one of the pockets. He checked out the number flashing on the screen as the tone continued to play, but he barely had a glimpse of the number because the caller stopped calling. The screen now read, "1 Missed Call," but he still recognized the number. _03405566773_

"My own number!" he frowned as he dialed the number of his voice mailbox. He put the phone against his ear and began listening to the automated computer voice.

_"You have one new message dated December 10. Time: __18:18__." _

December 10… it was only December 9. At least, it was in Midgar, he didn't know about the time differences in the other areas of the planet. The recorded message of the caller began playing. And as he listened, his eyes widened in horror.

_"Why do birds suddenly appear / Everytime you are near? Just like me they long to be / Close to you" _

"I know that voice…" he said to himself, although he didn't want to believe it. The voice was gentle, all right—so gentle that it was creepy. He felt his hands begin to moisten with cold sweat.

"I'm home!"

Barret hung up and just placed his mobile phone beside the cordless phone on the table, just time when Tifa entered from the back door. "So you're here, Barret?" she asked curiously as she placed a plastic bag full of bandages, ointment and bottles of hydrogen peroxide and other antiseptics on the table. Marlene walked over to her father and gave him a hug, "Hello, Papa!" she greeted happily.

Barret just forced a smile and hugged his daughter back, "Hello, Marlene. Did you buy everything that Denzel needs?" he asked.

"Yes, Papa. Heehee!" Marlene said before rushing upstairs, "I'll go see him now." She said happily.

Barret just stood still, pondering on the call he just received. "I swear it was Aerith but… she's… dead! She can't be…" he thought silently, but was interrupted when Tifa spoke up, "You alright?"

He turned to her with a curious look on his face. "Huh?" he asked.

"Are you alright? You're so pale. It's like you're frightened or something…" she stated.

"Wha? I do?" he asked in disbelief before forcing a smile at Tifa.

She just stared curiously at his facial expression.

He shrugged and turned away. "Rufus called up." He said, wanting to change the subject. He would not want to make Tifa worry about Aerith.

She blinked. "Really?" she asked, smiling slightly before putting aside the plastic bag and saw that she had placed it on top of Barret's mobile phone. "Oh… sorry about your mobile phone. I didn't notice it there." She said apologetically.

Barret turned to his phone again, eyes widening for a second as he did so. Nervously, he waved it off, shrugged and looked elsewhere. Tifa noted his facial expression and looked at him questioningly. "Are you sure there isn't anything wrong?"

"Ah… s'alright. I just remembered… I need to load more gil into my phone. Heheh."

Tifa raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Well… okay, if you say so. What did Rufus want?" she asked as she began taking out some items from the bag.

"He's just lookin' for Cloud. Didn't wanna tell me what he wants 'im for, though. Sounded urgent and didn't wanna tell me anythin'," he explained. "I told him to call back later, though, so he might ring y'all later… or summin'."

"Oh… I see," Tifa paused. She turned to Barret. "He… didn't say anything else?"

Barret raised an eyebrow. "Nope."

Tifa nodded slowly. "Okay…" She got the supplies and carried them all to the counter and started organizing them in the cupboards.

He looked at her skeptically for a while, but his eyes fell on the old radio. "Yo, Teef, I think your radio's busted. It just stopped playing a moment ago."

Tifa blinked and walked over to the radio. She checked the back and frowned. "Are you joking me, Barret? It's switched off," she said before clicking it on.

_"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, the time now is __18:18__… or __6:18__ in the evening for those of you who cannot understand military time… our next song is a well-loved classic entitled, _Close to You_, and is dedicated to…" _

Barret paled. He cursed in his brain and stepped back.

The bartender was surprised at his sudden action. "What's wrong with you?" she asked.

As the song began playing, the chilling memory of Aerith's voice singing to him through the phone returned to him. He shook his head furiously. "Ah… nothing… nothing," he said through gritted teeth as he began walking out of the bar.

Tifa tilted her head in curiosity. "Barret? Why are you acting so strange?"

"Just need some air…" he answered uneasily as he stepped out.

She blinked and walked over to the table where his mobile phone lay harmlessly. "You left your phone!"

oOoOo

_December 10; __18:00_

Barret tapped his fingers restlessly on the armrest of the couch he was sitting on. Marlene watched his fingers tap in fascination. She turned to his face and frowned. "Papa? Why are you so panicky?" she asked.

He didn't answer and continued tapping his fingers on the armrest. Marlene frowned even deeper. Barret hadn't been eating at all ever since he came back yesterday from his walk. And that morning, they found him in the bar watching TV, as if he'd been there the whole night. And the whole day, he was either sitting outside, staring at the sunshine blankly or inside, fidgeting restlessly in his seat.

All in all… it had not been a peaceful day for Barret.

"Papa! Let's go watch TV!" said Marlene, hoping to cheer her foster father up. "It's almost time for the news!"

"Hm? Ah… I don't feel like watchin' the news tonight, kiddo," he replied, forcing a grin at her. She huffed and ran off to Tifa who was making dinner.

_Man… what do I do? I jes' gotta tell somebody!... but who? If only I knew where Cloud was… _In that instant, Barret had a bright idea. _Wait. Maybe… _

"Yo! Teef!" he called out as he stood up. Tifa turned to him questioningly. "I'm goin' out! Don't wait up, 'kay?" he said before walking briskly towards the front door.

"Hey! Where are you going?" she asked, but he didn't answer. She only heard the door close hastily. Tifa huffed, feeling insulted. "Well!" she said indignantly.

"I wonder what's wrong with Papa…" Marlene said.

"I don't know, but that isn't a reason to act impolite… well if he doesn't come home by dinner time, we're leaving the worst scraps for him," Tifa replied as she got back to cooking.

"That's nasty." Marlene remarked with a pout. Tifa laughed. "I'm just kidding, Marlene! I'm not that cruel!" she pointed out with a smirk before gathering the skins of the apples and threw them into the trashcan by the kitchen counter… and she froze. She took another look inside the trashcan and curiously stared at Barret's mobile phone that was resting there with wet garbage. "Oh my goodness!" she instantly picked it up and gaped unbelievably at it. "Your father threw away his mobile phone? And his is such an expensive model!" she exclaimed.

"Ew! You picked it up?" Marlene asked in disgust. Tifa examined the screen. It was broken. She realized that Barret must have destroyed it on purpose. "But why would he even destroy it?" she thought curiously before throwing it into the trash again and rushed to the sink to wash her hands.

"Maybe it's not working well anymore that's why papa threw it away." Marlene reasoned. Tifa just kept quiet, feeling disturbed.

oOoOo

He could not understand why, but he felt like someone was following him, although he could not really see anyone trailing behind him… and for some reason, the people were dispersing from the streets, while it was just early in the evening. "Everyone must be cold since it's December already…" he thought to himself before taking another look behind him.

No one was there. "Damn this feeling…" he muttered before turning towards the street leading to Sector 6 where he was planning to go. "Cloud is in the Church… I hope…" he thought to himself as he quickened his pace. In a nick of time, he was finally able to arrive in the Church's grounds. It looked creepier at night, especially since it was half-destroyed already.

Then, he froze a few meters away from the doorstep of the entrance when the Church bells just began to chime… and they seemed to be playing a tune…

_Aerith's__ theme_.

He looked up at the Church's clock tower and the time read 6:18, the time when he received the eerie call yesterday. His mouth dropped open when he saw the hour hand of the clock dangling and then it just came off… falling towards him with the tip facing him. He could not move away from his spot… and the next thing that passersby had seen was Barret Wallace being impaled by the hour hand of the clock.

oOoOo

Tifa just listened quietly to Marlene's sobs while staring at the closed coffin. "Papa… why did you leave me?" Marlene was crying helplessly as she remained clung to Vincent and crying her eyes out.

Vincent was just seated on one of the chairs inside the funeral home in Sector 7 where Barret's remains had been taken. It was a closed coffin and no one else had been allowed to see how he looked like inside, except for Tifa and Vincent. The way Barret's corpse looked like had left an indelible memory in them.

"It was… so sudden…" Yuffie stated flatly with a look of disbelief on her face as she sat on the chair behind Vincent and staring wide-eyed at the coffin.

Tifa took a deep breath, shaking lightly. She had been trying to suppress her tears inside because she just could not cry in front of Marlene. Someone needs to remain strong for the sake of the little girl, and when she saw Barret's corpse, she decided to act like a second mother to the child.

Cid Highwind watched as the last of the guests left for that evening. Only a day has passed after Barret died, but the atmosphere around him seemed to grow heavier with sorrow and misery instead of improving. "Well… can't blame 'em… this ! bear will be missed so much…" he thought as he approached them and sat down beside Tifa. "You should tell Marlene to rest." He advised.

Tifa could not move. She felt frozen in place.

Cid frowned and shook his head in disbelief. "Looks like you're also shaken, huh?" he asked with a glum look on his face. The whole room was quiet and only Marlene's sobs and cries could be heard.

Then, they all heard heavy footsteps coming from the entrance. They all turned to look at who had just entered. It was Cloud Strife.

Tifa looked away from him and turned back to Barret's coffin with a slight frown on her face even as Cloud walked past her and approached the coffin.

He wondered why it was closed but he did not dare ask.

"He was found dead outside the Sector 6 Church." Vincent told him.

Cloud blinked. "What?" he asked with a curious look on his face as he turned to look at Vincent.

"He died of a freak accident. The hour hand of the clock was somehow unscrewed… and it fell straight onto him… impaling him…" Vincent explained.

Marlene's sobs grew louder.

Tifa got up and grabbed the child away from Vincent, "Vincent, stop it! You're just making it worse for her!" she scolded in annoyance.

Vincent just sat still. "My apologies…" he mumbled under his breath.

Cloud just observed Marlene and then turned back to the coffin. "I'm … sorry about Barret… I didn't know until I was informed by some people selling flowers outside the Church…" he said softly.

"So you were there all along and you didn't know?" Tifa asked.

"I was not in the Church last night when it happened." Cloud pointed out.

"Well then where were you?" Tifa demanded.

Cloud opened his mouth to speak but he stopped himself. He just shook his head and swallowed the lump forming in his throat. With that, he decided to leave. "Cloud, Barret was on his way to see you! Why else would he be there by the Church when he died!" Tifa told him.

"Well I didn't know. He should've called before going there, then I could have met with him inside." Cloud told them with a frown on his face.

"His phone was… ruined." Tifa explained.

Cloud just ignored her and walked out of the funeral home, leaving all of them completely puzzled because of his behavior.

Yuffie just sighed heavily and leaned back against her seat, crossing her arms with a frustrated look on her face. "Pshaw! He's worse than a woman with PMS!" she remarked in annoyance.

And then they heard the sound of a polyphonic tone of a mobile phone…

"Whose is that?" Cid asked.

Tifa shook her head. "That is not my ringing tone." She told them.

Vincent just shrugged.

Cid checked his and said, "Nope. Not mine."

The music was eerily familiar… and it sounded so gentle and sweet…

Disturbed, Yuffie got her mobile phone and realized that it was still ringing… with her own number flashing on the screen. "What the!" she thought in shock.

"Why?" Tifa asked.

"It's my number… but this isn't my ringing tone! I don't even recall having this ringing tone in my settings!" Yuffie pointed out in confusion.

"What!" Cid asked in shock.

"Aren't you going to answer it?" Vincent asked.

Yuffie just stared horridly at her phone until it stopped ringing and the words "One missed call" appeared on the screen. She swallowed hard, dialed her voicemail number and set her phone to loudspeaker… They all listened to the computer-operated voice say, "_You have one new voice message dated December 12; __10:45 pm_."

"What!" Yuffie cried out in confusion. She felt her hairs rising as she shivered.

"It's only December 11!" Tifa pointed out.

And then an awfully-familiar voice began to sing from the call: "_Why do birds suddenly appear everytime you are near? Just like me, they long to be close to you… Why do stars fall down from the skies everytime you walk by? Just like me, they long to be close to you…_"

Yuffie dropped her mobile phone on the ground and moved away from it with a look of horror on her face.

"It cannot be!" Red XIII reacted.

"Aer… Aerith?" Tifa whispered.

They were just quiet as they continued to listen, "_On the day that you were born the angels got together, and decided to create a dream come true…_"

Vincent rushed over to the phone and got it, staring at the screen. "_…so they sprinkled moondust in your hair; of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue…_"

He ended the call.

They were all silent for a few moments before Yuffie screeched, "OH MY GAWD!"

Silence.

"What was that all about?" Cid demanded in confusion.

"I don't… even know myself…" Tifa began with a nervous look on her face.

"But Aerith is dead, right?" Marlene asked softly.

"The last time I checked, yes!" Yuffie said.

Silence.

Vincent handed her back the phone but she just shook her head in protest. "GAWDS! Keep that thing away from me! I don't want it!" she screeched.

"Yuffie, calm down!" Tifa pointed out as she went to her aid. Yuffie began to cry. "I've a bad feeling about this! I don't like this feeling!" she told them in confusion as she sat down and covered her face.

"Well then go to a shrine and get yourself exorcised!" Cid told her with a mocking glare. "So what if that's her voice? It could just be a goddamn prank or something!" he snapped.

"The message is dated December 12, Cid. It's only December 11 now!" Yuffie pointed out in annoyance.

"There must be something wrong with the telecom service then." Vincent said softly, although he was beginning to get suspicious about the call. Whoever played the prank really has a dirty mind.

Tifa gave Yuffie a comforting hug. "Oh stop crying… it's alright. It's just a prank." She said with a hopeful look on her face.

"But… it's Aerith! It's her voice! I know her voice when I hear it!" Yuffie pointed out.

Marlene sniffed and wiped her tears away. "Maybe… maybe she's alive! And she wants us to know that!" she said with a smile on her face.

All eyes turned to her. "You think so?" Cid asked with a weak smile on his face, although he was being sarcastic.

Marlene just bowed down her head, her smile fading away. "Maybe she's back so that she could take care of me because Papa is gone…" she said sadly as tears fell from her eyes. Tifa sighed heavily as she got up and went to her, taking her in her arms. "Hush now, Marlene…" she said softly before turning to her friends. "I'd better take her home. She's had a rough day…" she told them.

"Yeah. You'd better do that." Cid said, crossing his arms. "I'll just stay here with Vincent. We'll guard the coffin." He told them.

"What time is the funeral tomorrow?" Vincent asked Tifa.

"Three in the afternoon. There's going to be a mass at 1:30 pm." She replied before she guided Marlene out of the room.

Yuffie sprinted after them, "I'm coming with you! I don't wanna stay here!" she told her.

For the rest of the night, Yuffie could not sleep or even relax. It was already bothering Tifa because she could hear Yuffie pacing back and forth in the other room.

Tifa just decided to sleep in the room where Marlene and Denzel sleep so that she could stand guard just in case the little girl gets nightmares. Around 3am, she heard Yuffie grumble, "AARGH! Why is this in my head!" Tifa instantly rushed to the other room where Yuffie was and saw her friend seated on the bed and clutching her head tightly. "Yuffie are you alright?" she asked.

"NO! I can't sleep! She keeps calling my name!" Yuffie snapped impatiently. Her eyes were already bloodshot and she looked like she really needed some sleep.

"Who keeps on calling your name?" Tifa asked as she sat down on the bed beside Yuffie.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me!" Yuffie stated flatly with a fearful look on her face. Tifa had never seen her looking so afraid before and it made her worry about her condition. "Yuffie, I need to know… so that maybe… we could do something about it." Tifa replied with a kind smile on her face.

Yuffie just shook her head. "NO!" she protested, covering her ears as she began to cry.

Tifa swallowed hard. She felt like attending to a mental patient all of a sudden. Shaking her head in disbelief, Tifa just got up and went to the kitchen. Maybe Yuffie needed some tranquilizers to put her to sleep. She got a glass of water and a single tablet of tranquilizer and brought it back upstairs for her friend to take. "Here you go. Take this. Maybe this can help… hopefully," she said with a worried look on her face as she handed the glass of water and the tablet to Yuffie. Yuffie eagerly took it and Tifa made her lie down. "Why don't you tell me?" she asked.

Silence.

Yuffie just shook her head. "You wouldn't believe me… it's Aerith!" she said helplessly as she slowly began to feel drowsy after some minutes. Slowly, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Tifa just stared unbelievably at her friend. "Aerith?" she whispered softly in disbelief. Worrying about Yuffie and Aerith, she just decided to stay there. She lied down beside her friend, closed her eyes and in a little while, fell asleep.

oOoOo

Vincent, Tifa, Cid, Yuffie, Marlene, Denzel and Red XIII all watched as the coffin was being lowered into the dug soil of the cemetery behind the Church in Sector 3. They were the only ones present in the funeral, plus the priest. But after a while, the priest finally left them as they watched the gravediggers cover the coffin with soil that was already six feet under the ground.

To Tifa's wonder, Marlene was not crying anymore. Instead, she was holding a bouquet of flowers and just staring blankly ahead of her with a slight smile on her face.

"Well… shall we all go home?" Vincent asked softly.

Tifa nodded.

Just as they were on their way back to Sector 7, they met some ninjas along the way. They were the ninjas from Wutai, sent by Lord Godo to fetch Yuffie.

"You're leaving?" Cid asked her.

Yuffie blinked. "I… never expected this." She told them in confusion. "I thought I could still stay here for five more months?" she asked the ninjas.

"We're sorry, Lady Kisaragi, but we have been sent here by your father to fetch you and bring you back to the Pagoda. He just misses you so badly." One of the ninjas explained.

"C'mon, go with them. Don't wanna disappoint your old man, eh? Harharharhar!" Cid urged. Yuffie just shoved him aside and approached the ninjas. She still wasn't feeling well so she just decided to go. Maybe she could get herself exorcised by a priestess once she arrives in Wutai. "I'll go." She said without even saying goodbye to her friends.

Vincent and the others watched as she walked away with the Ninjas, but she stopped when she heard Marlene call out her name, "Yuffie!" and went after her. Yuffie slowly turned around to face the little girl, and when she did so, she thought she had seen Aerith running beside the child. She gasped and backed away. "What's wrong, Lady Yuffie?" one of the ninjas asked. She snapped back into her senses when Marlene finally reached her and was offering her the bouquet of flowers. She stared wide-eyed at the little girl and carefully took the bouquet. "This is for you, Yuffie. Heehee!" Marlene said sweetly before rushing back to Tifa. She turned back to Yuffie again and waved goodbye. "Have a safe trip!" she said.

Yuffie just swallowed hard and nodded, forcing a smile on her face. She smiled at Tifa and the rest and waved goodbye. With that, she turned and walked away.

"There's something weird about her." Cid pointed out.

"She seems shaken… did something happen to her?" asked someone from behind them. They all turned around and they saw Cloud standing there and staring curiously at Yuffie. "Cloud!" Tifa reacted in surprise.

"Where is she going?" Cloud asked.

"She's… going back to Wutai." Vincent replied.

And they all fell silent, staring hard at Cloud to see his reaction. Nobody else knew how to begin to tell him about Aerith and the call that Yuffie had received last night.

Vincent stared at Tifa, and then at Cid, then at Red XIII. They were all looking at him as if they're telling him to take the initiative to ask Cloud about Aerith. With that, he took a deep breath and said, "Do you mind me asking you a question…" he started, but Cloud walked away from them. "I'm in a hurry." And he left without saying another word.

They were all frozen in place as they watched him walk away from them.

"I'm hungry." Denzel said in a dull manner, interrupting the silence.

"Oh… alright. Let's go home… I'll order some pizza for all of us," Tifa said with a weak smile on her face.

oOoOo

It was already 10:44 in the evening but Yuffie was still on board a ship going back to Wutai. The trip took longer than expected and she was beginning to get impatient. To keep herself preoccupied, she went over to the deck and decided to think about Aerith and the call she received the other night. She was holding onto the bouquet of flowers, wanting to throw them overboard into the ocean because just looking at them gives her the heebie-jeebies. She took one last look at the flowers before throwing them off into the ocean.

She stared worriedly at the flower petals as they got crushed by the propellers. As she turned away, she thought, "Maybe now she'll stop bothering me…" she thought miserably… and she felt a pair of cold strong hands clutch her shoulders tightly. She froze on the spot as she was pulled towards the edge of the railing again and to her horror, she could hear someone singing in her ear, "_On the day that you were born the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true…_"

"Aerith!" she gasped out loud, enough for some of the guards to hear from their post… but when they reached the deck, the last thing they saw was Lady Kisaragi falling overboard and screaming…

oOoOo

Cid Highwind slowly opened his eyes when he heard the polyphonic tone from a mobile phone. It was the same tone they heard in Yuffie's phone the other night… and he began to feel disturbed when he heard it again. But when he checked, it was coming from his own phone this time. He got out of bed and went to the dresser to pick up his mobile phone, although he remembered switching it off before falling asleep. He looked at the number flashing on the screen… it was his own number. He shivered before looking at the time: "11:13"… and he answered the call. "What the fuck are you!" he demanded angrily in a loud growling voice.

Silence.

"_Why do birds suddenly appear everytime you are near? Just like me-_…" Cid hung up when he heard the voice singing the song.

"What's going on, Cid?" Tifa was knocking on his door from outside. She must have heard him growl that's why she was there.

Cid went to the door and opened it, showing his phone to Tifa. "Damn it, Teef! That fucking prankster just called up and… sang that old song again!" he said frantically; fear could clearly be seen in his eyes.

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"I answered it. And she started singing that fucking song! Dammit, Teef! What is going on! Who is this person!" he panicked in annoyance.

Tifa could not answer. She just gaped at his phone. "I… don't really know how to explain that…" she said with a nervous look on her face.

Cid threw his mobile phone on the bed and began to pace back and forth. "This isn't a fucking funny joke! People shouldn't be messin' with dead people and… and start imitating their voices!" he told her angrily.

She just swallowed hard and bowed down her head. If only she knew what to do…

They both jerked in surprise when they heard the landline ringing from downstairs.

It took them a while before they regained composure and rushed downstairs. Tifa was staring strangely at the phone as if thinking whether to answer it or not. Cid frowned and pushed her aside, picking up the receiver and answered, "Yeah? Whaddya want?" he demanded from the other line.

Tifa observed the stern facial expression on his face while listening to the other person in the other line, "Yes, this is the house of Miss Lockheart. Who's this? Yeah she's here. I'm Cid Highwind."

Silence.

Cid's eyes widened and he felt his knees getting weak. He blinked in confusion as he sat down on the sofa. "When did this happen?" he demanded.

He turned to the clock hanging on the wall. "10:45?" he repeated after hearing it from the person on the other line.

"Cid, what is it?" Tifa asked in worry.

Cid shuddered, taking a deep breath as he put down the receiver and slowly looked up at Tifa. "What time did Yuffie receive the call last night?" he asked.

"I… forgot…" she replied.

Cid instantly got up and went upstairs. "Vincent!" he called out. Tifa ran after him, "Cid, what are you thinking? Who was that?" she called out, basically rousing the whole sleeping population of the house including the children.

Vincent opened his eyes and instantly sat up on his bed when he heard Cid and Tifa march inside his bedroom. "What's going on?" he asked sleepily.

"Where's Yuffie's mobile phone? Weren't you the last one who held it?" Cid demanded.

Vincent blinked, confused by Cid's sudden temper. "It's… over there by the dresser," he pointed towards the dresser by the window. Cid instantly grabbed it and switched it on. As soon as it was switched on, he dialed the voice mail and listened: "_You have one voice message dated December 12; __10:45 pm_" and then followed by the singing. Cid hung up, his eyes wide in terror as he put down the phone. He felt so numb and he could feel his palms excreting cold sweat as he faced Tifa and Vincent with a disturbed look on his face, "She died 10:45 today…" he said softly.

"Who?" Tifa asked.

"Yuffie!" Cid announced.

"What!" Vincent reacted in shock.

"You got to be kidding me! Stop giving us a fright, Cid, we've had enough stress for today and we can't think clearly right now!" Tifa pointed out in annoyance as she raised a hand at Cid to make him stop, but he protested, "No! I'm not kidding! It was her father who just called saying she fell overboard the ship to Wutai and drowned!" he pointed out.

Silence.

"Where's Barret's phone?" Cid asked.

"He destroyed it and threw it away," Tifa said with a dry tone.

"Damn! How can I verify what I'm thinking of!" Cid demanded as he went over to the window and looked outside as if searching for answers in the streets of Sector 7.

"What are you thinking of?" Tifa asked.

"I'm thinking that if you receive the call and hear Aerith's voice, you'll know the date and time you are going to die. It's…actually predicting your time and day of death… 24 hours after you've received the call!" Cid explained.

Vincent frowned. "What?" he asked in confusion.

"Cid, that is absurd! Why would you even die 24 hours after…" Tifa began, but Cid stomped his foot to make her shut up, "Tifa, I'm serious! I just received the call!" he approached them. "Yuffie received the call last night at 10:45, and at exactly 10:45 today, she's dead. Tomorrow evening, at 11:13, I'm also going to die!" he pointed out.

"You're out of your mind." Vincent muttered.

Cid just ignored him, "Tifa, I want you to tell me if Barret received the same call!" he told her insistently. She swallowed hard and shook her head, "N…no… I can't. I was out the whole afternoon… and I just returned around… near 6:30pm with Marlene because we had to buy some supplies for Denzel." She explained.

"Didn't the autopsy say what time he died?" Cid asked.

"The police investigated it… and it was 6:18pm… it was also what the passersby had mentioned." She replied uneasily, feeling so nervous and confused.

"When you arrived home, did you notice anything unusual about Barret?" Cid asked her.

"Well… he… seemed shaken… and he seems to be thinking of a lot of things," Tifa began.

"And you said he destroyed his phone!" Cid said.

"Yes, but…" she began. Cid turned away, "I knew it!" he told them.

"Cid, could you calm down a moment. You're panicking. What if you're just exaggerating everything; like it's just a coincidence that there's something wrong with the network that's why the date is a day in advance and the time is exactly the same time as you got the call?" Vincent pointed out.

Cid took a deep breath, staring nervously at the night sky outside. "I guess we'll just… have to find out tomorrow evening… at 11:13…" he muttered.

oOoOo


	3. Confirmation

**Two: Confirmation

* * *

**

_December 13; __3:04 am_

Tifa sighed wistfully as she ended her conversation with Lord Godo and hung up the phone. Vincent just finished giving tea to the shaken Cid. He turned to her and gave her a questioning glance. "Well?"

Tifa shook her head as tears fell down from her eyes. "They did a search for her body… and they concluded that her body was shredded apart by the turbine of the ship… Lord Godo can barely speak, but he invited us to attend a ritual in Wutai to properly put her soul to rest…" she explained with a cracking voice.

The three of them fell silent. Nobody really knew what to say at that point… first Barret died, and Yuffie died the next day… it was too much for them to take. Who would have thought of attending 2 funerals in 2 days…?

Or maybe, Cid was thinking, 3 funerals in 3 days. "Fuck this," he muttered, crushing the tea cup in his grasp. "Fuck this. Fuck. Fuck!" he yelled, throwing the tea cup to the ground. The others in the room stared at him as if he were a madman. "Cid! Calm down!" Tifa gasped out in shock.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN? How the fuck do you expect me to calm the shit up! I'm going to fucking DIE tomorrow, and you're expecting me to fucking CALM DOWN!" he yelled. His breathing was getting more rapid by the second.

"Cid… how can you be so sure that—" Vincent began, but Cid interrupted, "Look, pretty boy, you haven't received your call yet, but once Aerith calls on your fucking mobile and leaves you a fucking message in form of that fucking love song, the message is pretty fucking clear, you hear me!"

"Cid—…"

"You shut up!" Cid growled, pushing Vincent away. "Shut the hell up! I don't know what the fuck is going on, but I'm pretty damn sure that Aerith's gonna come prancing here at 11:13 at night and then, you know what's gonna happen? Huh? HUH!" He continued pushing him away, and didn't stop even though Vincent looked pretty bewildered already.

"CID! Listen to yourself!" Tifa exclaimed, stomping her way towards him and stopping him from harassing Vincent any further. "You're accusing Aerith of doing something like that from beyond the grave! In the first place, why would she even do that!"

Another moment of silence. Cid's tensed face gradually relaxed. He emitted a long-suffering sigh. "Yeah… you're right, Teef…." He sighed again and collapsed on a couch. "I'm not making any goddamn sense… I'm going crazy…" he muttered more to himself than to them.

"No, Cid… I guess… all these deaths are just going to our heads and making us crazy…" said Tifa, sitting down next to him.

"Yes… we're just tired… and slightly disturbed," added Vincent as he straightened out his outfit before sitting down on a lounge chair opposite them. "I think we all need some rest…"

Tifa nodded. "Yeah… we have to rest if we want to go to Wutai later on when the sun rises…"

Cid suddenly shook his head. "No… I'm not going to Wutai," he said.

"What? Why not?" Tifa asked, frowning. "It's for Yuffie…"

"No… I think I'll go to Rocket Town…" Cid muttered again to himself as he stood up. "Yeah… Have to get to Rocket Town... have to see Shera…" he mumbled, and without further explanation, he sped upstairs.

Tifa followed him with her gaze, her mouth agape. She turned to Vincent in confusion.

Vincent shrugged. "Let him be… he took all of this worse than we did… and it's 3 in the morning. Maybe we'll all be less troubled by sunrise," he answered as he stood up and began walking to his room.

Tifa found herself all alone in the living room. She looked left and right first just to make sure that she is alone before she cried all-out for Yuffie—another close friend lost.

oOoOo

Just before the sun rose, Cid scribbled a note and left it at the bar, and then taking a few stuff with him, left Sector 7. He calculated his itinerary in his mind; he has to take public transportation towards Junon, and then take a boat to Costa del Sol, and then maybe take a train to Nibelheim, and then take a car to Rocket Town—

It's going to be hard traveling without reservations… but he has a lot of money. It's going to take a long time though… If he's lucky, he'll make it to Rocket Town by evening.

oOoOo

"_Tifa_…"

Tifa slowly opened her eyes and with a blurry vision, stared up at the person who was looking down at her. She gasped and fell off the couch because she thought she had seen Aerith staring down at her with a sweet smile on her face… but when her vision finally cleared, she realized that it was only Marlene. "M…Marlene! You… you gave me a fright!" she said, clutching her upper left chest and feeling her heart thumping hard. Marlene blinked curiously. "Why are you sleeping on the couch, Tifa?" she asked.

Tifa just shrugged. "Well… I don't know… I must've sleepwalked or something…" she replied as she got up and dusted herself and then took a quick glance at the time on the wall clock. She felt her knees get weak. "Oh no… Where are Vincent and Cid?" she asked Marlene before rushing to the bar. It was already 2 in the afternoon… and they were supposed to go to Wutai.

Vincent was in the bar reading a tabloid newspaper that was a day old. "You're awake." He pointed out.

She stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry… I overslept. I was so tired I…" she began in panic, but Vincent just nodded. "I understand. You fell asleep in the living room at around 4 in the morning, I guess." He replied.

"How did you know?" she asked as she walked to the refrigerator with a strange look on her face.

"I couldn't hear you sobbing when it was already past 4." He answered.

"Sobbing? Why? Were you crying, Tifa?" Marlene asked curiously as she sat down beside Vincent.

Tifa got herself a glass of water and looked at her reflection on the glass. Her eyes still looked puffy from crying, but she doesn't want to talk about it anymore. "So, you've had your breakfast and lunch already, Marlene? What about Denzel, did you feed him too?" she asked.

"Uncle Vincent cooked breakfast and lunch for me and Denzel." Marlene said proudly.

Tifa took a quick gulp of water before turning to Vincent. "Thanks, Vincent." She replied.

Vincent just bowed down his head, staring at the tabloid that he was holding before turning back to Tifa. "I… was thinking last night, Tifa… I…" he began hesitantly.

"What is it?" she asked before finishing the contents of her glass.

"If you don't have a mobile phone, is there a chance that you can die too?" he asked.

Silence.

Marlene blinked. "What's going on?" she asked.

Tifa turned to Marlene, realizing that she was still there. "It's… nothing, Marlene. Just an urban legend." She replied before approaching her, "Why don't you go upstairs and check on Denzel for a while?" she asked.

Marlene smiled happily and nodded before running upstairs, leaving Vincent and Tifa in the bar with disturbed looks on their faces.

"Do you have the intention to tell Marlene about Yuffie's death?" Vincent asked softly.

Tifa bowed down her head and shuddered. "I'm… not… ready to tell her as of now…" she replied with a voice that seemed to falter as she saw the note that Cid had left for her and began reading it.

Vincent turned back to the tabloid and then motioned for her to come closer. "Take a look at this." He told her. She swallowed hard and frowned slightly before approaching him and looked at what he had been reading. "_Two Turks Dead on Consecutive Days_." She read out loud.

Silence.

"It's Reno and Elena. First it's Reno, then it's Elena. Reno fell into an open manhole and cracked his skull. The next day, Elena… uhm… well, nobody is sure whether she jumped off or fell outside the window of the President's room in the Healin Lodge. But the President was the only witness to her death. Also, Materia had been found in their mouths when they died." He explained.

Tifa was just quiet, mortifyingly reading the news article.

"I was just thinking… these two had mobile phones; Barret had a mobile phone; Cid and Yuffie both have mobile phones. You think only those with mobile phones can become victims to this madness we're experiencing now?" he asked.

She just turned away from the newspaper with a frustrated look on her face, "I don't wanna think about it right now. I'm just… too tired and I want to rest and forget about these problems we're all having right now." She told him.

"Tifa, we have to do something if we want to survive." Vincent told her.

"Look, I'm worried about Cid, alright? As far as I'm concerned, I wanted him to stay here with us so that… maybe we could protect him tonight and prevent him from suffering the same fate that Barret, Yuffie, Elena and Reno had experienced!" she told him.

"So you believe that mobile phones have something to do with these deaths?" Vincent asked.

"I don't want to believe in it, but something's making me because it's all happening around me!" Tifa replied with a confused look on her face before covering her face with her hands and she just started to cry. "I'm… I'm so confused, Vincent! I don't know what to do! I mean, who would even think of doing such things! Why is everyone just… dying for no reason at all? Are we being punished for something that we have failed to do?" she wailed.

Vincent could feel the hysteria that was forming in Tifa's emotions, but he just sat still, staring at the pictures of Reno and Elena on the tabloid. He could tell that she was afraid… afraid to die… afraid of suffering the same fate as Barret's and the others who have died already. But then again…

He looked up at her from where he was seated and said, "Do you even have a mobile phone?" he asked.

She turned away from him and wiped her tears away with a bitter look on her face. "Yes but the line got deactivated because I ran out of prepaid and wasn't able to load for two straight months. It's just in my room now. I don't use it anymore." She told him.

"You mean if I call your number, I'll just get an error?" he asked.

"Yeah. That's why I just contact Cloud through landline." She replied before pouring herself another glass of water to help ease herself up.

Vincent turned to the clock and then back to the tabloid again. "Looks like we'll have to wait for tonight… the only way that we can confirm our thoughts about this matter is when Cid…" he stopped himself. He didn't want to be morbid in front of Tifa anymore because he could tell that she has had enough… and he isn't really that mean to make her suffer further. "We'll stay up late and call Cid tonight, alright?" he just decided.

Tifa just nodded slightly, feeling so dazed as she went to the phone and picked up the receiver, dialing Cloud's mobile phone number and then waiting for him to answer.

"_Can't pick up.__ Leave your message._" She heard his recorded voice followed by a beep.

She was quiet for a while before speaking up with an annoyed tone, "Busy. You're always busy. I don't know what you're doing but I hope that you're aware that Yuffie is dead!" and hung up.

Vincent was surprised at her sudden actions. "Tifa, calm down!" he told her.

She did not answer. Then they both turned to the doorway leading to the stairs when they noticed that Marlene was coming. Tifa just sniffed and crossed her arms, leaning against the wall with a casual look on her face.

Marlene was smiling happily at them. "Denzel is okay but he's hungry." She told them.

Tifa smiled kindly at her. "Well then, I'll cook something for him. What do you think he'd like to have?" she asked before going to the refrigerator.

oOoOo

_11:00pm__…_

Cid sat restlessly on the sofa in the living room area of his house in Rocket Town. He had arrived in Rocket town three hours earlier after a long tiresome trip from Midgar, but he still did not feel tired… not when he's too restless about the time.

He kept glancing at his mobile phone that was just resting on the coffee table facing the sofa where he was seated while watching the news on TV.

Shera was there when he arrived, washing the dishes that she used for dinner, and he was so happy to see her. They talked for a while and he just focused all of his attention on her. Shera wondered why he suddenly seemed to be so concerned about her; asking if she was fine or if she needs anything else. But she was already tired by 10 so he accompanied her to her room and even tucked her in like she was a child, and she felt ridiculous by this kind of action from him. He waited until she drifted off to sleep, watching her with a bitter smile on his face like he wanted to cry or something. He gently touched her cheek, caressing it carefully and gave her a soft kiss on her lips before leaving the room at around 10:45 and proceeded downstairs.

The next time he looked at the clock, he found that it was still 11:00pm… and he was beginning to get nervous by the moment. "Is this clock ruined or what?" he thought before turning back to the TV again. He got the remote control to start surfing for other channels, but once he did, the other channels turned into static. "Damn reception…" he muttered as he continued to look for channels. But there was none. He even flipped back to the news channel but it was also gone. "What the…" he began. Then his mobile phone made a sound. His message alert tone. He froze. He turned to the clock. It still read 11:00pm. With a trembling hand, he reached for his mobile phone and flipped the screen over.

_Multimedia Message Received_.

He frowned slightly and saw the time on his mobile phone's screen: 11:12.

With his eyes wide in anticipation, he clicked on "read" to view his MMS…

To his surprise, it was a video recording. He heard the same song… from the brown haired woman wearing pink on the screen, moving towards him with a heavenly look on her face. "_On the day that you were born the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true…_"

He turned back to the wall clock. He realized that it had stopped working.

Aerith seemed to come closer to him from the screen, but he threw his mobile phone away towards the wall. But it was still working. He could still hear the singing. He backed away but he stopped when he felt someone hold his hand. "Where are you going? The song is not yet over!" he heard someone say.

He felt his hairs rising as he turned to his side to see who was holding his hand. He had expected to see Aerith… but no. It wasn't her.

It was Yuffie. She looked decapitated and all bloody. She grinned horridly at him. And from behind her, Aerith rose up to his view. "_Just like me, they long to be close to you…_"

Cid screamed.

oOoOo

"Anything?" Tifa asked nervously as she remained seated on the living room sofa, her hands becoming fidgety as she watched Vincent trying to contact Cid's mobile phone with the cordless landline.

Vincent shook his head with a deep frown on his face as he listened to the computer operated voice: "_The number you have dialed does not exist_."

Silence.

Tifa heard it too.

She turned to the clock. It read 11:12. She got up and snatched the phone from Vincent's grasp and redialed the number. She got the same response.

Then someone started knocking on the door, surprising them…

oOoOo

Rude wheeled the President back to his room from the Doctor's clinic. It was a late-night check-up and Rufus was really tired. He just wanted to sleep.

As soon as they arrived in his room, Rude helped him climb on his bed. It sure felt different without Reno and Elena around. Rude had been too withdrawn and much too quiet than before. As soon as Rufus was settled on his bed, they heard a mobile phone ringing.

It was the same ringing tone that they heard from Reno's mobile phone.

Rufus checked his. It was just on his bedside table and it wasn't ringing.

He heard Rude mumble, "Oh no…" and reached for his own mobile phone to check.

Rufus felt goosebumps all over his body when he realized that it was Rude's mobile phone, but he was frowning. "Answer it." He told him.

Rude was hesitant for a while before deciding to answer it in loud speaker mode.

"_Why do birds suddenly appear everytime you are near? Just like me, they long to be close to you…_"

Rude hung up.

Silence.

"I don't wanna know…" Rude mumbled as he shook his head, handing the mobile phone to Rufus. Rufus took it with a deep frown on his face as he was the one who checked on the time of call. "00:00. December 15." He read it silently.

Midnight.

"It's only December 14…" he thought before looking up at the bald Turk who had a very stiff look on his face. Rufus wondered if he was afraid, but his face seemed emotionless just like him. Maybe behind those glasses, the truth about his emotions can be seen, but unfortunately, Rufus cannot see through them.

Without thinking things over, he reached for his own mobile phone and began to dial…

oOoOo

Vincent opened the front door and saw Cloud Strife.

"Oh. You." Tifa just said plainly.

Cloud stepped inside. "I… just received your voice message and so I rushed here immediately… where's Yuffie?" he asked with an unsure look on his face.

"You're too late. She's dead." She told him haughtily.

Vincent went to her and gave her a slight push towards the bar area. "Tifa, just go there for a while. You're stressed. I'll handle this." He told her. Tifa obeyed. She didn't want to start yelling at anyone again.

"What's going on?" Cloud asked.

"We… don't know, actually. But… Tifa and I had been trying to investigate the deaths." Vincent told him.

Cloud shrugged with a deep frown on his face. "Need help or anything?" he asked.

Vincent was just quiet for a while before saying, "I think you should just stay out of this." He told him.

Cloud was surprised by his answer. "What?" he asked.

Vincent turned away and got the cordless phone once more. "So far… you haven't received any strange calls?" he asked.

"What strange calls?" Cloud asked.

"Apparently, an old friend keeps calling us one by one… don't know why, but maybe she wants all of us to join her eventually wherever she is?" he asked.

"…what are you talking about?" Cloud asked, taking a step forward to him.

Vincent turned around to face him with a serious look on his face. "Aerith."

Cloud was taken aback by what he had just heard. He felt so speechless and his eyes widened in surprise.

Vincent stared seriously into his blue eyes. "Whoever accepts her call dies a day later." He told him.

Cloud frowned at him. "You're desecrating her memory." He sneered before turning away and then walking out of the house, slamming the door on his way out.

Tifa stepped back inside the living room area with a worried look on her face.

Vincent sighed heavily. "Don't ask." He muttered before redialing.

Tifa just stood still by the doorway, staring at Vincent in fear. Cloud didn't want to believe them so who can help them now?

Vincent still got the same response so he gave up and approached Tifa, handing the cordless phone to her. "We have a different time zone from Rocket Town, right?" Tifa asked softly, realizing only at that moment.

Silence.

Vincent wanted to punch himself when he realized that too. "Shit…" he mumbled.

Tifa was surprised upon hearing him cuss like that… but what else can they do?

She just shuddered and clutched the phone tightly. "I guess… we really have to calm down so that we can think clearly…" she said softly.

And the phone rang, surprising them both. They were both overwhelmed and so she wasn't able to answer until it was already the 7th ring. "…Hello?"

Silence.

"Hello, I would like to speak to Mister Cloud Strife, please."

Tifa's eyes widened. "Who's… this?" she asked.

"It's Rufus. Rufus ShinRa." The person from the other line replied.

Tifa swallowed hard. "I'm sorry but… Cloud doesn't live here anymore… but I can take a message and call him… or maybe you know his mobile number already? You can reach him there." She explained.

"Really now… but I don't have his mobile number. Could you give it to me?" he asked.

Tifa was quite hesitant, "What do you want with Cloud first?" she asked.

"I have to discuss something with him regarding… the deaths occurring around me nowadays." Rufus pointed out.

Tifa frowned slightly. "Deaths?" she asked.

Rufus was silent for a while before proceeding, "Two of my Turks are dead… and I think the last of them is going to follow… tomorrow at midnight, if my estimation is correct." He said.

Tifa's eyes widened before turning to Vincent with a hopeful look in her eyes as she spoke to Rufus, "Mister President, can I see you?"

"What for?" he asked impatiently.

"It seems that Cloud isn't really interested in this matter that you would like to discuss with him… and I deem we have the same concern." She explained before smiling calmly at Vincent. "And I would like to talk with you about it." She continued.

Rufus was quiet for a while before asking, "May I know who is this?"

Tifa could feel that he had somehow taken interest in her offer…or maybe he's desperate for help, but since Cloud isn't around, she would do… She answered, "Tifa Lockheart."

oOoOo

Rufus ShinRa thought for a while before looking at Rude. "I know it's late, Miss Lockheart, but if you don't mind, I'll send Rude over there right now to fetch you."

"N…no, I don't mind. I guess I'll see you later. Thank you, President ShinRa." She told him.

He cringed. "Just call me _Rufus_." He corrected, not wanting to hear anybody else call him "President ShinRa" if not "President Rufus".

"Alright… Rufus." She repeated.

Silence.

He wondered if he should hang up already, but she was still on the line. She might have something else to say. But she was just quiet.

"So I'll see you later." He told her as he motioned for Rude to go, assuming he had heard the instructions he said to Tifa. Rude just nodded and left.

oOoOo

Tifa blinked. "Oh… okay." She said before hanging up. She felt somewhat embarrassed.

"Rufus?" Vincent asked.

"Yes." She replied uneasily before she sat down on the couch. "He's looking for Cloud. It looks like he's having the same problem." She told him.

"And so you're going there right now?" he asked.

"Yeah. He asked Rude to fetch me." She replied before she got up again. "And I think the bald guy's going to kick the bucket at next midnight." She told him with a nervous look on her face.

"You're going there right now?" Vincent asked.

"Yeah. I want to get this over with. I don't want anyone else to die..." she replied.


	4. Voices

**Three: Voices**

* * *

Vincent was left in Tifa's house to guard the children. As soon as Tifa had left with Rude, he went upstairs to check on the kids. To his surprise, Marlene was awake and looking outside the window with tears running down from her eyes. "Marlene?" he asked.

The little girl turned around. "Uncle Vincent!" she exclaimed before rushing to him and hugging him while sobbing helplessly. "What's wrong?" Vincent asked, feeling ridiculous. He had always thought that he isn't good with children and that children feared him because of his appearance.

"I feel sad…" she said with a miserable look on her face.

"Why?" he asked as he lifted her up and carried her in his arms while patting her back gently.

She sniffed as she rested her head on his shoulder. "I had a dream that you all went away!" she told him.

"What?" he asked curiously.

She wiped her tears away. "Tifa went to live in this big white house with a man wearing white… and Miss Yuffie was in Wutai and she became an Empress there… and daddy and Mister Cid were in the cemetery waving goodbye." She said.

Vincent was stunned. "Well… you didn't mention me…" he said.

"You were with Sephiroth." She told him.

Silence.

"Oh really?" Vincent asked feeling dumbfounded.

She just nodded. "It was scary…" she said.

He just blinked as he walked over to the bed and put her down. "What's Sephiroth doing?" he asked curiously.

Marlene began to cry again. "You really wanna know!" she wailed.

Vincent figured that it must've been traumatizing for the child so he just said, "Alright, never mind. You might go all sixes and sevens…"

Marlene stopped crying and wiped her tears away and lied down. "Good night Uncle Vinny." She whispered before closing her eyes.

"Good night, Marlene," said Vincent, tucking her in. He turned and walked to the door to exit, but paused as he touched the doorknob. "Sephiroth…?" he mumbled one last time before shrugging it off and going to the next room to check on Denzel.

oOoOo

Tifa seated herself on the couch as Rufus wheeled himself towards her. She glanced at the clock which read 5 am before turning back to Rufus who was still covered with white sheets. "I'm pleased to have you here to discuss about this matter…" he told her before reaching out his right hand to her. She stared at it for a while before realizing that it was closed into a tight fist. And he opened his palm, exposing two green materia that looked similar to Aerith's. Her eyes widened upon seeing them but she wasn't able to say anything about them. Rufus noticed her reaction and then turned his gaze on the materia. "We found this in Reno and Elena's mouths when they died." He explained before motioning for her to take the Materia. She swallowed hard before shaking her head, remembering the time when Aerith died. "…N…no, thank you." She told him.

Rufus withdrew his hand and motioned for Rude to get them. Rude approached him and took the materia, putting it inside a plastic bag.

Tifa bowed down her head as she put her hands together on her lap, feeling uncomfortable. "Three of my friends… are dead." She began.

"Who are they?" Rufus asked.

"First it's Barret… then Yuffie… and then just… last night… Cid." She explained before looking at him. "Barret died on the 10th; Yuffie on the 12th… and then… Cid on the 13th; just last night." She continued.

Rufus was quiet for a while before telling her, "Reno died on the 8th. Elena died on the 9th." He took a deep breath before proceeding. "How do you suppose your friends died?" he asked.

Tifa recalled what Cid had told her before gathering enough courage to begin, "Someone… phones you on your mobile phone, but your own number is being reflected; and so it appears that you're calling yourself, even if that's impossible. Your phone rings, but it's not your ringing tone. It sounds nice but there seems to be an eerie feel to it when you hear it. And then you answer it, and you hear someone singing. A young woman… she's singing an old love song. When you check the time of call, it's dated a day after you receive the call but with the present time. And at the exact day and time… you're dead."

Rufus was stunned. He could somehow recall what Elena was trying to say to him, but she wasn't able to fully explain what she really wanted to say. "Perhaps it's similar to what Tifa just mentioned…" he thought before nodding his head. "We _do_ have the same concern…" he told her uneasily. "But it seems like even if you don't answer it, it will go to your voicemail. Eventually you'll listen to it out of curiosity." He told her before bowing down his head. "Reno received the call around 3:57 in the afternoon on the 7th, but the voicemail said it's the 8th. According to the autopsy report, he died 3:57pm on the 8th. Elena did not specify if she received a call or not, but I think it's already obvious that she did… and according to the autopsy report, it was 4:00pm when she died. Before she died, her phone was ringing…" he narrated.

Tifa was quiet for a while.

"Do you have any idea who's behind all these, Tifa?" he asked as he looked at her again.

"Cid thought it's a prank. If ever it is a prank, it's a very dirty one and it's definitely not funny. Playing with the memory of a dead person isn't such a nice idea for a prank." She responded with a frown on her face.

"Dead person?" he asked.

"It's… uhm… the person singing… it's one of my old friends… at least that's her voice. She died… two years ago; killed by Sephiroth. I'm sure you've heard of it. Her name is Aerith Gainsborough." She explained.

Rufus's eyes widened upon hearing the name. "The Cetra?" he asked.

Tifa nodded as she smiled bitterly. "I don't want to believe that it's really her because I know she would never ever do a thing like that!" she said before sighing heavily. "Vincent told Cloud about it just moments ago when he visited because he found out about Yuffie's death. Vincent asked if he's receiving calls from Aerith, and he just got mad, saying we're desecrating her memory. Even Cloud wouldn't believe that Aerith would do the killings. Who _would_ believe that she's capable of doing those?" she asked in exasperation.

"I wouldn't, too." Rufus mumbled, recalling what sort of person Aerith was according to his observation and what the Turks told him about her. "But then again… what if someone is just using her?" he asked.

Tifa frowned, thinking about what he had just said. He interrupted her thoughts by asking, "So did Cloud receive any similar calls?"

She shook her head before yawning. "No…"

Rufus smiled slightly at the sight of her yawning. "So you haven't been sleeping too." he told her.

She just smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that…" she said with a tired look in her eyes. Rufus turned to Rude. "Would you escort Miss Lockheart to a vacant guest room? If the doctors ask, tell them she's my guest but she just needs to rest for a while." He instructed.

Rude nodded and motioned for Tifa to follow after him.

Tifa was stunned. "…Rufus, I…" she protested.

"I insist, Tifa. A tired body and mind won't do much at situations such as this. Besides, I need rest too." he told her.

She just smiled slightly at his concern as she nodded her head. "Which reminds me; how are you doing in recuperating?" she asked.

Rufus was surprised at her concern. "Well… I'm… doing alright, I guess." He answered quite hesitantly due to his surprise. He could feel his cheeks getting warmer. A somewhat-stranger like her was nice enough to ask how a "mean" person like him is doing. "I hope you don't mind me asking," she told him. He shook his head. "I don't. I appreciate it. It's not everyday that I have pleasant people around here such as you, Miss Lockheart." He told her with a slight smile on his face.

She smiled kindly before she got up from the couch and offered a handshake. She was pleased that he answered her question and he did not shrug it off. "So he _did_ change. Cloud was right…" her mind was saying as she told him, "I guess this means we'll become friends now."

He was surprised at what she said. He could remember himself saying lines similar to that before… but his lines were the opposite of hers. He just stared at her hand for a while before accepting the handshake and looked up into her eyes. "I'll see you later." He told her.

She smiled sweetly at him before turning to Rude. The Turk was just standing by the door, seemingly disturbed, as he was just staring towards the window, as if anticipating the sunrise. His last sunrise.

"It must be hard knowing that you're going to die…" she thought silently before approaching him. He did not even look at her. He just opened the door for her and then led the way to the next room and opened its door for her. She stood by the doorway of her room and scanned the place.

His head was bowed down.

Tifa could sense his grief but she doesn't know what to do so she just turned to him and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder, making him look at her in surprise. She smiled sadly at him. "You've always been such a nice person, I guess. Doing your duties well… you're even loyal to Rufus just when everybody else is gone." She said.

He just looked at her with mixed emotions in his eyes, but he was thankful for his shades.

With that, she stepped inside her room and closed the door, leaving him there with a stunned look on his face. Rude stepped away and returned to Rufus so that he could help him to his bed.

As Tifa was drifting off to sleep, she could not help but think of Aerith. "Unless there's a reason…" she thought. But she could not think of any.

oOoOo

_1:30pm__…_

Rude just sat still on the couch, staring blankly ahead at the President who was still asleep on the bed. His hands felt so numb and so cold and his heart was really beating fast. He has less than twelve hours to live… and just thinking about the time was making him feel more and more uncomfortable about his situation.

"Who will take care of President Rufus when I'm gone? I just can't leave him to the care of the doctors… some of them are not even from ShinRa!" he thought to himself as he got up from the couch and went to the window, looking outside. He stared at the ground where Elena had fallen some days ago. He could still remember clearly the look on her face when he saw her lifeless on the ground. It was really traumatizing for him because she was one of his closest friends next to Reno, even if he never really opened up so much to her compared to how he had been a friend to Reno.

His thoughts were interrupted when someone knocked on the door. He turned and went to the door to open it, revealing a messenger. "Good day sir. I'm from the Investigation Group. I'm delivering these reports to you as you requested earlier today." The messenger told him, handing him large brown envelopes.

"Thank you." Rude said before closing the door and going back to the couch. After Rufus had fallen asleep earlier, Rude had decided to get copies of the autopsy reports on Barret Wallace and articles on Yuffie Kisaragi and Cid Highwind, since news indicated that their bodies were never found. He read Barret's and how he died, then moved on to Yuffie.

"_Kisaragi__ Heiress Missing.__ On the eve of December 12 at 10:45, witnesses claim to have seen the 18 year-old Yuffie Kisaragi, the only daughter and Heiress of Lord Godo Kisaragi of Wutai, to have fallen overboard the ship that was supposed to take her home to Wutai from Midgar…"_ Rude proceeded to read quietly, "_…body was never found; however, a single green Materia was found floating on the spot where she had supposedly fallen."_ He was surprised. "Materia?" he thought before going to Cid. "_Cid Highwind of Rocket Town, Missing.__ Companion Shera claim she heard him scream from the living room area and she went down to check on him but found no one there. There was no more trace of him except for his mobile phone whose screen was destroyed in one corner of the living room and green Materia which had been found beside it._"

Rude frowned before going back to Barret, checking if there was any Materia found in his mouth during the autopsy. Listed on one of the sheets, Rude was able to confirm the presence of Materia inside Barret Wallace's mouth when he died. The color of Materia was green. Rude shivered and arranged the reports and the articles once more before putting it down on the couch. With that, he got up to get some paper and pen and started writing…

oOoOo

Tifa had awoken at around 11:57 in the evening, feeling so stunned that she had slept _that_ long. As she got out of bed, she heard Rufus's voice from the other room shouting Rude's name. Out of panic and concern, she instantly put on her shoes and ran to the other room. She found Rufus seated on his bed without covers on his head. Rufus was stunned to see her there… and he felt as if he's as good as naked since his face was completely exposed to her.

Tifa shook her head to make her snap out of her trance upon seeing his face. He looked perfectly fine, but his eyes seemed more vulnerable compared to before. She ran towards him. "What's the matter?" she asked.

Rufus just decided to ignore his present state. "Rude's not here." He told her.

"What?" she asked in surprise.

"Could you go there," he pointed towards the couch where he could still see the envelopes. Tifa saw them too and she instantly ran to get them and handed them to Rufus. Rufus scanned the envelopes, and then turned his attention to a folded note taped onto one of the flaps.

"What time did he receive the call?" Tifa asked.

"12 midnight." Rufus replied.

Silence.

"Where could he be?" Tifa asked in panic.

"Blimey… I have no idea. I just woke up five minutes ago…" Rufus answered as he motioned for Tifa to hand him his mobile phone that was on the bedside table. She got it and gave it to him. He checked if he had messages or any missed calls, but he had none. With that, he got the folded note and handed the envelopes to Tifa. "Could you see what's in those?" he asked before reading the note quietly while Tifa inspected the contents of the envelopes:

"_Dear President Rufus, I wouldn't want to be a burden for you when my time comes. Please forgive me if I left without prior notice. Thank you for being such a nice boss. It was a pleasure to be of service to you. I'm also saying this in behalf of Elena and __Reno__. If there is anything else that I could do to help you in this investigation, I would call you tonight. I hope it would help. Respectfully yours, Rude."_

Rufus felt his heart sinking before turning to the PS below the signature: "_Please take care of Miss Lockheart. I would greatly appreciate it if you do. I'm sure she'll be happy with someone like you rather than seeing her with Mister Strife so unhappy. You're a nice person deep down, I just know it._"

He thought his heart stopped when he read that and his thoughts became clouded all of a sudden.

Tifa blinked. "These are autopsy reports on Barret… and… news articles on Yuffie and Cid." She pointed out before turning to Rufus. She thought she saw the color drain from his face as he was rereading the note. "Are you alright? You look disturbed," she told him, even though his face remained expressionless, but she saw it in his eyes.

He just swallowed hard, deepening his frown before putting the letter aside.

"Well what did it say?" she asked.

Before he could answer, he heard his mobile phone ringing, surprising them both. Rufus snapped out of his trance and he quickly reached for his mobile phone. The time read 00:00 and dated December 15. He checked the caller I.D. and it read "_Rude_".

He answered it, "Hello?"

Silence.

He switched it to loudspeaker mode so that Tifa could also hear…

But there was only silence.

"Who's that?" she asked.

"It's Rude." He replied.

Silence.

"Rude? Are you there?" Rufus asked, feeling rather impatient.

Still no answer.

Just when Rufus was about to hang up, he froze when they heard the sound of something marble-like bouncing against some stony ground.

Tifa's eyes widened upon recognizing the sound of Materia bouncing against stone flooring but before she could react to it, they heard a woman's voice say softly, "I miss him…" and then another one said, "Just a little more and you'll see him."

Silence.

"A little more…" a man's voice said.

"Aw shit. Let's just get the fucking hell out of here…" another man said.

"Yeah. It's time to go for now foo's!" another man piped in.

"But I miss him…" the first woman's voice said.

"Cheer up! Just sing the love song that you always like to sing! Nyuk nyuk nyuk nyuk!" answered another woman's voice.

Followed by some high-pitched feedback noise which made them cringe and get goosebumps just by hearing it. It hurt their ears so Rufus instantly hang up, his heart racing.

Aerith, Elena, Reno, Cid, Barret, Aerith again, and then Yuffie…

Tifa and Rufus were quiet for a while, waiting for his phone to ring just in case he would be the next victim, but everything was quiet.

"That can't be!" she grabbed his phone and searched for Rude's number and then dialed it.

"_The number you have dialed does not exist._" The computer-operated voice answered.

Rufus just sat still, feeling so confused. But, he knew that the inevitable had already taken place…

"My god," Tifa choked, covering her mouth with her hand. "Does this mean that Rude's…" she just shook her head and got up, rushing to her room and feeling so confused. The moment she shut the door, she saw a piece of paper fly off from the bedside table and landed on the floor by her foot. She picked it up and read it quietly: "_Dear Miss Lockheart, please take care of President Rufus when I'm gone. He needs someone who is as nice and understanding as you are. I only wish for your happiness. Rude._"

She swallowed hard as she put down the paper, sniffing. With that, she turned to the door again and got out of her room walking slowly towards Rufus's room. She entered with a sad look on her face but there was nothing to say between the two of them. She just sat down on the bed and got one of the envelopes with Barret's autopsy report. She pulled out the report and read it silently before telling him, "So, where do we begin?"

Rufus just sat still, staring hard at his mobile phone before shaking his head in disbelief. "This has got to stop…" he mumbled.


	5. Cloud's Number

**Four: Cloud's Number**

* * *

Vincent stopped washing the dishes for a while when he heard the telephone ringing. Marlene and Denzel, who were seated on the dining table and drawing pictures, blinked. Marlene stopped drawing and turned to Vincent. When she saw that his hands were still wet, she just ran to the phone and answered it for him. "Hello?"

"Marlene?" said the voice from the other line.

Marlene's face lit up. "Tifa!" she exclaimed happily. She hasn't heard from Tifa in around two days already and she really missed her.

"How are you all doing, Marlene?" Tifa asked.

"We're alright. What about you? Did you talk to Rufus already?" Marlene asked happily.

"Yes, we have discussed a lot of things already. Where's Vincent?" Tifa asked.

"Oh he's over here washing dishes! We just had lunch! He grilled some tuna and squid! It was yummy!" Marlene said happily.

Tifa giggled. "Really now?" she asked, amazed at the fact that Vincent was good at taking care of children… not to mention, the household. "Yeah! You should've been here! And Rufus too! I'm sure he'll love Vincent's cooking! Heehee!" Marlene continued.

"Well… I sure hope he can cook something here… well then is he still around there? I'd like to have a word with him." Tifa responded.

"Alright." Marlene turned to Vincent and handed him the phone.

Vincent wiped his hands on his apron and took the phone and answered, "Hello, Tifa?"

"Hey, Vincent! How's the _housewife_?" Tifa kidded.

Vincent frowned. "That's a bad pun, Tifa." He mumbled, but he was somehow glad that at least she sounded happy. "I'm just kidding. Anyway, Rufus wants you to come here and join us. You can take the children with you because he also wants his doctors to take a look at Denzel." She told him.

Vincent blinked. "I see you're getting along pretty well with the President?" he asked with a sly smile on his face.

"Well… he has no more Turk left so I'm sticking around to take care of him until he is well again. Any sign of Cloud?" Tifa asked.

"He hasn't dropped by ever since the time when I told him about Aerith." Vincent replied. "I don't even want to check if he's alright; he might go all cranky again." He told her.

"Oh well… so much for him. I've been trying to call him too but he's not answering. Rufus would like him to get involved in investigating this case but it seems like Cloud doesn't even want to participate." She explained.

"Can't blame him. It's Aerith we're all talking about here." He said with a shrug. "Alright, we'll get ready. I guess we'll be there by five in the afternoon if we can get a quick ride out of Midgar." He told her.

"Don't forget to lock the house and bring the keys with you." Tifa said.

"Alright. Bye." He said before hanging up and turned to the children. "Alright you two, that's enough drawing for now. We're going to the Healin Lodge." He told them with a slight smile on his face.

"Really?" Marlene asked.

"What are we going to do there?" Denzel asked curiously with a dazed look on his face.

"The President wants to talk to me… and he wants the doctors to check on you, Denzel. Tifa must've told him about your condition." Vincent explained.

"Oh." Denzel said rather lifelessly.

Marlene cheered. "Cool! Can I finish this drawing first and then I'll go upstairs to change?" she asked.

"Well alright. But do hurry. We wouldn't want to keep the President waiting. He's got a lot on his mind now and it wouldn't help if we disrespect him by dilly-dallying," said Vincent.

oOoOo

"Denzel, these are the people who will examine you. Behave." Tifa said sternly to the little boy who was staring blank ahead at Rufus who was seated on his wheelchair facing the couch where Vincent was seated.

"…. Sure, Tifa." Denzel mumbled with a dazed look on his face.

"How about me? Where will I go?" Marlene chimed in.

"Marlene, I think it's best to accompany Denzel in the clinic. Just don't distract the doctors." Vincent told her.

"Okay Uncle Vincent. Hee hee!" the little girl said happily before going with Denzel.

"Now… President Rufus? Shall we begin discussing?" Vincent asked, turning to Rufus.

"You were an ex-Turk, I believe?" Rufus began.

Vincent was surprised at him. "Y…yes, sir." He replied.

"First off, I would like to rehire you on the spot… if that is alright with you?" Rufus asked. Vincent was quiet for a while before turning to Tifa who was standing by the bedside table and preparing Rufus's pills for the hour. "Oh well… he needs a bodyguard… taking care of Rufus is Tifa's job. And since Cloud doesn't want to cooperate…" he was thinking quietly before turning to Rufus again with a slight smile on his face. "I'll oblige, your Excellency." He said.

Rufus nodded. "Very well. I shall request for accessories for you…" he began.

"Oh, no need to, President Rufus. I'm fine with these clothes." Vincent pointed out.

"At least a mobile phone." Rufus told him.

Vincent thought for a while before nodding his head. "…alright…" he said, although he felt hesitant upon recalling about the calls from Aerith. He noticed the perplexed look on the faces of his companions upon hearing the acceptance of the mobile phone. "Well… I think it's best that we let… Aerith call one of us. Maybe then we could find out what's causing it before one of us dies…" he stated flatly.

Rufus and Tifa were quiet for a while before the latter began, "Actually, Rude tried to help… at least what he did gave some clues. But we're still confused…"

"What do you mean?" Vincent asked.

"Rude called me around midnight, the time of his death, and Tifa and I heard voices. Strangely enough, those voices belonged to the supposedly-dead people, including Aerith." Rufus pointed out.

Vincent frowned slightly. "You think this is a set-up?" he asked.

"Well it's a bad one. And if it's a joke and we're all in a practical joke or gag show, it's not going to be a very funny one." Rufus muttered.

"It can't be a set-up! We've all seen Aerith die, right?" Tifa protested with a confused look on her face.

Nobody knew how to answer to that.

Tifa just shook her head before she swallowed hard. "I think we really need to talk to Cloud. Who knows if he's aware of these things or not… we have to clarify things with him." She told them.

"Like how?" Rufus asked.

"You try calling him." Vincent suggested.

"I don't even have his mobile phone number with me right now that's why whenever I want to keep in touch with him or get in touch with him, I call your bar, Tifa." Rufus pointed out.

"Well then," she began as she got his mobile phone and dialed Cloud's number for him. With that, she handed the mobile phone to Rufus. "Here you go. You can save it from your dialed numbers list after you talk to him." She said with a smile on her face.

Rufus waited for a few moments before Cloud finally answered. "Hello?"

Rufus was silent for a while before saying, "Cloud?"

Cloud was quiet for a while before replying, "Yes… who's this?"

"It's Rufus." Rufus replied.

Silence.

"How did you get my number?" Cloud asked in a demanding way.

"I… asked Tifa. She knows. I wanted to talk to you…" Rufus began.

"About what?" Cloud interrupted. He sounded annoyed.

Rufus stiffened as he stared straight ahead towards the window. "About the deaths occurring around…" he began, but Cloud cut off, "Don't tell me you're blaming Aerith for it too?"

Rufus was surprised.

"I'm sure Tifa already told you about it. Vincent told me about it too but I didn't believe him because it's all a lie. Aerith wouldn't do anything like that!" Cloud protested.

"We know Aerith is not capable of doing anything like that, but what if it's someone else?" Rufus asked.

"I don't want to know." Cloud mumbled.

"You have to!" Rufus snapped.

"Why? What for!" Cloud demanded.

"Six people are dead, for crying out loud! Who knows, you or me or even Tifa and Vincent and the children could be next!" Rufus pointed out.

Cloud was quiet for a while before saying, "If Aerith is the one taking lives, so be it. She can take mine for all I care… at least I can finally…" he trailed off.

Rufus narrowed his eyes. "Oh I get it, Strife. You think you can see her again that way? You're better off dead, is that what you're thinking?" he snarled.

oOoOo

Cloud cringed upon hearing those words again. Tifa had once said those words to him and the feeling was like darts piercing through his heart, although he just remained quiet. He didn't know what to do all of a sudden. Angrily, he just hung up.

oOoOo

"Blasted…" Rufus mumbled as the call ended. He just sighed heavily as he was going through his list of dialed numbers to find Cloud's and added it to his contacts.

"Your conversation sounded nice…" Tifa said with a slight smile on her face.

"Believe me, it was splendid." Rufus said sarcastically with a sarcastic smile on his face. "I can tell that after this conversation he wouldn't want to talk to me ever again because he thinks that I just insulted his _love for Aerith_ and what I've been telling him is sacrilege and blasphemy." He pointed out.

"Looks like we can move to plan B." Vincent said.

"And what is that?" Tifa asked.

"We ask other people to talk to him." He replied.

oOoOo

Tifa and Vincent gave Cloud's number to the doctors and nurses present in the Healin Lodge that afternoon and one by one, they tried talking Cloud into "making a delivery service" for them at an inn in Kalm. Vincent's plan is to make Cloud go to Kalm and from there, maybe he and Tifa can get some sense out of him and then take him to Rufus back at the Healin Lodge. However, the calls weren't really successful. Tifa and Vincent just thanked the doctors and the nurses and returned back to Rufus's room at around six in the evening, surprised to see Marlene sharing stories with Rufus.

"I'm pleased to see the two of you getting along pretty well," Tifa began with a smile on her face as she approached Rufus.

"I played Rufus's nurse! I made him drink this icky medicine that Denzel also has to take but he has to take it by injection." Marlene pointed out.

"Oh how nice!" Tifa said with an amused smile on her face before looking at Denzel who was sleeping soundly on Rufus's bed. "Oh no…" she muttered as she walked over to the boy, meaning to carry him off there and transfer him to the couch instead, but Rufus stopped her. "No, Tifa, it's alright. Let him rest there. I don't mind." He told her reassuringly.

She was surprised at him. "Oh… okay…" she said weakly.

"Why are you seated on a wheelchair?" Marlene asked Rufus.

Silence.

"Marlene, I don't think you should be asking the President such questions…" Vincent began, but the little girl protested, "…but he looks fine! Look at his face! He looks normal! And he has hair so why is he covering his head?" Marlene tugged at Rufus's blanket that was covering his head and it slipped off his head, revealing his look of awe at the child for everyone to see. She smiled cheerfully. "Heehee! See? He still looks like a prince!" she said happily.

Silence.

"Marlene, that's enough…" Tifa said with a trembling tone, fearful for the fact that Rufus could run out of patience with the little girl. She went to Marlene, "Alright, just go to my room for a while…" she began.

"What for? Let her stay here. She has no companion in your room if you leave her there and then you're here talking to me with Vincent." Rufus told her.

Tifa was stunned. "…Alright…" she said, feeling unsure.

Marlene just shrugged. "If you're going to talk about adult stuff, I'm just going downstairs." She said.

"We're…not really going to talk about adult stuff, Marlene." Vincent began.

But the little girl ignored them and just went to the door and got out before one of them could make another remark.

"That was… quick." Rufus remarked with an unsure look on his face before covering his head again with the blanket. "So how did it go?" he asked them.

"It was a failure. Cloud has started to become so suspicious of everyone now." Vincent told him.

"You think we did the wrong steps?" Tifa asked, feeling unsure.

"Whatever. That guy needs counseling." Rufus said, rolling his eyes.

"Well… it's really hard for him. You know… losing Aerith and… stuff…" she replied hesitantly. "I mean, c'mon, you'd feel the same if you lost someone dear to you, right?" she continued.

Rufus just snorted. "I haven't lost anyone dear to me yet." He muttered.

"Not even your mother?" Vincent chimed in.

Silence.

"At least I don't start hating and suspecting everyone like what Cloud is doing…" Rufus fibbed.

Silence.

"So… what now?" Tifa asked softly.

Denzel started to snore, surprising them.

"I'd better transfer him to his room." Tifa told them as she went to the boy and carried him carefully, although he felt heavy. As soon as Tifa got out of the room, she almost dropped him when she heard the familiar ringing tone again.

It was approaching her from behind. She felt her hairs rising as she held the boy closer to her. Slowly, she turned around and saw one of Rufus's doctors approaching with a perplexed look on his face while looking at his mobile phone. "Hello?" the doctor answered the call, much to Tifa's mortification. She didn't want to hear more. She just rushed to the room facing Rufus's to put Denzel there.

"Why?" her mind was screaming as she stared horridly blankly ahead of her as she placed the boy on the bed. She swallowed hard before deciding to rush back to Rufus's room. She saw the doctor mindlessly injecting something into Rufus's veins. He looked as if he didn't even notice anything strange with the call. Rufus doesn't even seem to know that the doctor had received Aerith's call. Even Vincent remained clueless as he remained seated on the couch, watching the doctor do his thing with Rufus.

Afterwards, the doctor withdrew the injection and smiled kindly at Rufus. "You're doing fine, President Rufus. I've seen a lot of improvement in you. In a matter of weeks, if you continue therapy and continue your intake of prescribed medicines, you can finally walk again and do the old stuff you like to do in the office." The doctor said reassuringly.

But Rufus just looked down to the ground, not convinced.

The doctor turned to Vincent and then to Tifa, "He can go outside tomorrow for a stroll if he wants to. Just make sure it won't rain. And he must take a bath tomorrow afternoon too." he instructed.

"Yes, doctor." Vincent replied.

Tifa just nodded and approached Rufus, standing beside his wheelchair.

"Dinner will be brought up here for the three of you and the children." The doctor told them before exiting.

"You seem distressed." Vincent pointed out to Tifa.

Tifa swallowed hard before saying, "The doctor's… mobile phone just… rang before he went in here and… it's the ringing tone that you hear whenever…" she trailed off when she noticed no reaction from the two men with her.

Rufus just turned his gaze away from her, looking down at his right hand. "That Doctor doesn't even know who Aerith was…" he thought silently, thinking that all the victims had known who Aerith was and had met her personally.

"Rufus, that doctor's life is in danger!" Tifa pointed out with a worried look on her face.

Rufus was quiet for a while before looking at her again, "Tifa, sometimes you have to sacrifice a few lives to be able to get what you want." He told her sternly.

She was surprised at his reply. "…I don't want people to die…" she said softly.

"You don't. I know you don't. But you want to find out what's causing all of this, correct?" Vincent answered. Tifa stared unbelievably at them. "So they both have the same level of thinking and understanding…" she thought to herself. "You two are really from ShinRa…" she muttered before walking out of the room.

Rufus and Vincent were just quiet. The former bowed down his head as the latter told him, "She has her days." And sighed. "Sometimes she appears strong… but deep inside I think she's just like everybody else around her…" he continued.

Rufus just blinked blankly. "As if there is still something she can do…" he muttered.

oOoOo

…and around 7 weeks later after Rufus's doctor died and the second one had disappeared, the other doctors and nurses followed; either dying a strange unreasonable death or just disappearing without a trace.

On the day the last of them had just disappeared after entering the laboratory to inspect Rufus and Denzel's red blood cells, Tifa became too frantic to get the two out of there immediately. Vincent also felt the same way about the situation.

"It's like a bad aura is surrounding this whole building. If you don't mind, Rufus, you'll have to go with me and Tifa back to Midgar away from this place." Vincent explained.

"We can't go back to Midgar! What if it follows us there?" Tifa asked.

"It will follow us wherever we go. It's useless." Rufus muttered.

They were just quiet, listening at the crickets from outside the window and the sound of Marlene's crayons on a page of her sketchpad. Denzel was just seated on Rufus's bed, staring blankly outside the window and eyeing the setting sun.

"We'll see how strong Aerith is. If she tries to follow us in Midgar then I'd be damned if she calls me once we get there." Rufus muttered before turning to Vincent. "The keys are in the front desk. Get them. The car is in the garage." He instructed.

Vincent nodded. "Tifa, you prepare the essential medicines for Rufus and Denzel and start packing their clothes. I'll wait for you downstairs." he told Tifa before leaving the room.

Rufus just sat still as Tifa rushed to the window when she felt an eerily cold breeze blow inside the room. She shut the windows and shuddered, feeling her heart pounding hard against her chest. Rufus felt the breeze too but he did not say anything. In fact, when he felt the breeze, he thought he felt a pair of hands grab his face.

Tifa went over to Marlene, "C'mon, Marlene. Enough with those drawings for now. Help me pack our stuff." She said… and she froze.

Marlene stopped drawing and just slowly looked up at Tifa with a blank look on her face that sent shivers down Tifa's spine. Tifa stared unbelievably at the drawing and she picked it up, staring hard at it.

Marlene blinked and smiled sweetly at Tifa. "Did you like it?" she asked happily.

Tifa swallowed hard. "Who… who is this?" she asked.

"It's you and you're lying beside a flower bed! Isn't it nice?" Marlene asked.

Tifa just stared hard at it as Rufus wheeled himself towards her to take a look at the drawing too. He was mortified when he saw the drawing. It looked like a dead person.

Tifa turned to the previous pages to look at the other drawings prior to what she had seen first, and then to her horror, she saw drawings of a ninja drowning, a bear with a spear-like weapon through its head, a screaming pilot, a blonde woman with a distorted smile on her face and with broken and twisted arms, a redhead man without any eyes and a bald man with broken glasses. And then on the first page, she saw a drawing of a boy and a girl embracing, but they have crowns on their heads like they were king and queen, and they're wearing blue and pink respectively. "Oh that's Cloud and Aerith." Marlene pointed out.

Tifa just handed the drawings to Rufus and pretended not to have seen anything before turning away with a disturbed look on her face. "C'mon, Marlene. Help me pack." She said.

Marlene got up. "Okay!" she said cheerfully before going after Tifa.

Rufus rescanned the drawings and it made him frown. "What made you draw these, Marlene?" he asked mindlessly.

"I see them in my head." She responded while helping Tifa.

"You see them in your head?" he asked.

Marlene nodded gleefully, "Uh-huh! _She _shows me things… and I remember them. Then I draw them, just like that!" she explained while putting Rufus's clothes inside a suitcase.

Tifa froze. "_She_?"

"Aerith." Marlene pointed out.

Tifa and Rufus were quiet for a while before the former proceeded with the packing. Rufus just sat still and stared at the drawings.

In 30 minutes, they were out of the Healin Lodge and driving to Sector 7, Midgar, to Tifa's house there.

Vincent told Marlene to guide Denzel inside because he had to help Tifa get Rufus onto the wheelchair from the car. As soon as Marlene and Denzel had gone inside to go to their room, Vincent went back to the car to carry Rufus from the backseat of the car and transferred him to the wheelchair. "I'll park the car at the back. You take Rufus inside." Vincent instructed Tifa. She nodded and carefully wheeled Rufus inside her house.

Vincent watched quietly as they entered, thinking that Rufus would really have a hard time adjusting to his new surroundings. "Well… he has to move-in with us here if he wants to live… After all, who else can he trust to take care of him?" he thought silently before turning back to the white expensive car that belongs to ShinRa… and was surprised when he saw Cloud approaching with his Fenrir. Vincent froze. "Bloody hell…" he muttered.

Cloud parked his motorcycle behind the car and stared strangely at it. "What's this doing here?" he asked.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Vincent asked bluntly.

Cloud turned to him. "I just want to check if Marlene and Denzel are alright." He told him.

"Since when did you start caring about the children?" Vincent asked.

"What is _this_ doing here?" Cloud repeated his question, referring to the car. Vincent did not answer. Cloud frowned at him. "This belongs to ShinRa. I've seen this in the garage of the Healin Lodge once. It's what the Turks use to go around sometimes." He pointed out.

"Well I'm glad you know." Vincent said before opening the door where the driver's seat is located.

"Did you steal that car?" Cloud asked.

"I work for ShinRa now." Vincent told him.

Cloud was surprised. "What?"

"Tifa and I… we're working for Rufus. We have agreed to collaborate with him in solving a case regarding a series of strange deaths occurring around us. Lately, doctors and nurses have died in the Healin Lodge. Are you aware of this?" Vincent told him directly.

Cloud stared at him unbelievably for a while. "If this is about Aerith again…" he began, but Vincent interrupted him, "I did not say anything about her, Cloud. You're the one who thought of her. Do you know anything about this?" he asked.

"Why are you blaming Aerith? She's… she's…" Cloud stammered with a deep frown on his face and a tone that seemed to falter as he went on.

"…dead." Vincent told him.

Cloud snapped. "She is not dead…" he wanted to scream out loud, but he could not do so because it would be so inappropriate for him. Instead he just glared angrily at Vincent.

Vincent was surprised upon Cloud's silence, but seeing the look in his eyes made him feel a bit awkward about the situation. It was the first time he has ever felt something like… fear… after all these years of feeling so numb and careless about everything but himself. There was something in Cloud's eyes that made him feel like his heart had stopped beating for a few seconds.

Cloud looked up at the house and then back to Vincent again. "I see. So that's what you think… well then…" he just turned and walked off, going back to his Fenrir. Vincent watched as Cloud hopped onto it and sped away.

Noticing that the window upstairs had opened, he looked up to see Tifa looking down at him with a disturbed look on her face. Vincent just sighed heavily, shaking his head in dismay. "Don't ask…" he told her before going to the car again to park it properly. Tifa just shook her head in frustration. "Wasn't gonna…" she muttered before turning back to Rufus who was seated on his wheelchair and looking around the room. She smiled sheepishly at him. "Sorry if it's small. I know how much you're used to living in big rooms, unlike this one, which is probably just the size of a broom closet in ShinRa." She told him. Rufus wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not, but he just wheeled himself towards the mirror and slowly removed the blanket from his head, looking at himself. "It's perfectly fine, Tifa…" was all he said. He could not really find the right words to say to her because if he told her frankly what's on his mind, he might sound so vulnerable… and he still has his pride to maintain.

Tifa studied his facial expression for a while before smiling slightly and walked to the door. "My room is just beside this one. The bed is by the wall dividing our rooms. If you need anything, just knock. I'll be able to hear it because my bed is just beside it." She told him.

He looked down on his lap, refusing to respond.

"For now I'll just be downstairs to cook our dinner. Yell if you need anything." She told him before stepping out of the room and went to the stairs. She met Vincent on the way, but he was going up. "Where's Rufus?" he asked.

"I placed him in Yuffie's old room just beside mine so that I can easily hear him if ever he needs me." She said as she finally reached the first floor and went to the kitchen.

Vincent just took the initiative to go to Rufus's new room to stay there and guard him for a while, but before he went there, he checked on Denzel and Marlene's bedroom. Marlene had fallen asleep beside Denzel on his bed. Quietly, Vincent just went to Marlene and carried her, placing her on her own bed. With that, he left them and went over to Rufus's room. He saw Rufus scrolling down on his mobile phone. Peeking from over his shoulder, he saw that he was going through a list of names from his phonebook. Rufus knew that Vincent was there behind him so he just spoke up, "I'm still bothered by the deaths…"

Vincent stood still, staring at the names. "Did you tell this to Tifa?" he asked.

Rufus just exited the phonebook menu and handed his mobile phone to Vincent. "I don't want to inflict further worry in her. I've seen the way she is dedicated to her work concerning me…" he said softly.

Vincent began reading the names again and checking the numbers. After a few moments of silence, he sat down on Rufus's bed, staring at the phone. "You don't have Cloud's mobile number here?" he asked.

"No. We always contact each other through landline. I have the number of this house, though." Rufus replied.

Vincent frowned slightly, his mind suddenly functioning, getting an idea; but he was not sure. He looked away from the phone and stared at the wall, reflecting on his thoughts before turning back to Rufus with a curious look on his face. "Tifa mentioned that she has an old mobile phone, correct?" he asked.

"I deem so…" Rufus replied.

"But Cloud's number is not in her current phone?" Vincent said.

"I'm not sure; but I never really checked or asked her." Rufus told him. "Why not?" Vincent asked. "…I don't know… privacy issues?" Rufus replied, shrugging, not really wanting to admit to Vincent that he hasn't thought about it yet.

Vincent felt his heart leap. In an instant, he rushed to the other room… Tifa's room. He stood by the doorway for a while and scanned the room with a speculating look on his face but he was being alert on something… but he was not sure what. He reached for the light switch and turned it on. As he stepped further inside and continued to scan the room, he heard Rufus's wheelchair moving towards him. "Vincent, what are you doing?" Rufus asked sternly.

Vincent began searching for something in Tifa's bedside table drawers. "It's gotta be here somewhere…" he muttered.

"What?" Rufus asked.

"Her old phone. We have to find it. If my speculation is correct, then we can save other people's lives… especially ours!" Vincent told him with a frantic expression on his face as he continued to rummage through her stuff.

"You can't just barge in here and start looking for her old mobile phone! Besides, how can she use that old one? It's not charged and it doesn't even have a valid sim card anymore!" Rufus told him, thinking about how Tifa would react if she finds out that they were rummaging through her stuff without her permission.

"She'll understand even if we don't have permission from her. This is for her safety!" Vincent told him.

"Well what is your speculation about this and you're so _excited_?" Rufus demanded, getting impatient… because he could already hear Tifa's footsteps on the stairs.

"Whoever has Cloud's mobile phone number in his/her mobile phone will die." Vincent finally said.

Rufus felt his hairs rising when he heard that. "Bloody brilliant!" he said exasperatedly.

Tifa finally arrived in her room, surprised at Vincent rummaging through her drawers. "What are you doing!" she demanded in shock.

"Tifa, where did you put your mobile phone?" Vincent asked.

"It's… here with me." She replied, quite unsure.

"No, the old one. The one with the invalid sim card?" Rufus asked.

"Oh, it's over here…" she stepped inside to go to her closet, but she froze when she heard a message alert tone.

Rufus's eyes widened. Vincent stopped rummaging through her stuff when he heard it too.

Tifa's heart began to race. It's definitely not her current message alert tone, but she still checked on her mobile phone.

No message. She swallowed hard, feeling so nervous. She suddenly wanted to cry.

Vincent instantly went to her closet and searched one of the drawers there… until he found the old mobile phone. It was an MMS phone similar to Cloud and Rufus's. Carefully, Vincent flipped open the screen… and to their awe, it was switched on… and on the screen was "Multimedia Message Received. Read now?"

Tifa felt so stunned. Rufus and Vincent were speechless, even as the latter went to them before pressing _confirm_ so that they could view the MMS.

It was a video.

Their eyes were wide while watching it: a young lady with long brown hair was brushing her hair while humming a tune. _Cloud's Theme_. She had her back to them and she was wearing a pink dress. They couldn't see her face because the lighting was very poor.

"Aerith!" Tifa exclaimed.

The young lady stopped humming and brushing her hair, as if she heard Tifa. Slowly, she turned her head to her left side, as if to look at all of them from her peripheral vision…

And then she smiled before she started to sing again, but this time, it's the song that they have all heard before: _"Why do birds suddenly appear everytime you are near? Just like me, they long to be close to you…_"

And then the battery indicator turned red and the mobile phone just switched off by itself.

It took a while before Vincent finally found the courage to speak up to Tifa, "You… have Cloud's number there. Anyone who has it… will receive the call…"

They were all silent for a few seconds before Tifa finally collapsed on the floor.

"Tifa!" Rufus mentioned in shock.

Vincent was still holding the mobile phone, staring horridly at it. He placed it on the dresser before turning to Rufus who was stooping from his wheelchair to check on Tifa who was lying on the floor unconscious. "She passed out." Rufus told him.

Vincent stared at her for a moment, contemplating on what had just happened. He just could not believe that Aerith could do that… and now Tifa's next. And Cloud wouldn't even help them with the matter. Frustrated, he instantly went to the window and jumped out, deciding to look for Cloud.


	6. Confrontation

Chapter Five: Confrontation

* * *

Vincent went on to Sector 6 to the Church. He had a determined look on his face. He would settle this issue himself; and if Cloud would not help them, he would have to force him. "He's the only one who can stop her… I just know it…" he was thinking to himself as he slowly entered the dark old ruined Church. The only light present in it was the one emanating from the altar area, which was coming from a small gas lamp. "He's there…" he thought to himself as he continued his way towards the altar; but upon arriving there, he realized that those were only Cloud's things… but no traces of Cloud. "Where is he?" he wondered to himself before turning around to scan the whole area. It was already evening and he supposed that Cloud should be in the Church already, resting. "Where else would he go?" he thought.

"_Vincent_."

He gasped slightly and instantly turned back towards the altar again when he thought he heard a young lady's voice call out his name. His heart began to beat fast as he scanned the whole altar. "Who's there?" he called out. To make things much worse for him, it sounded so much like Lucrecia.

But the whole area was silent.

He swallowed hard and mindlessly clutched his forehead, rubbing his temples. "Damn… my mind's playing tricks on me…" he thought to himself before deciding to survey the whole area. While going around the Church, he wondered how Cloud could live in such a territory that is so unsafe for shelter; because it seemed like at every moment that Vincent would step on the wooden floor while walking, it would crack or give way to his weight… and wooden planks from above him were starting to chip and had proved to be unstable already.

Checking the time from the clock tower that had been fixed just recently after one of its hands fell off and succeeded in killing one of his comrades, he realized that Cloud wouldn't be returning very soon. "Might as well await his arrival here…" he thought as he found a dark spot where he could hide himself and sit down for a while… and maybe take a nap until Cloud arrives.

As he stared into the darkness, trying to keep himself awake for a much longer time, he was thinking, "He'd better come on time before Tifa dies…"

oOoOo

Tifa was not sure if she dreamt of Aerith holding her hand and telling her that everything would be alright… and when she asked how Cloud was, she couldn't answer.

And she just slowly opened her eyes when she felt some grip tighten on her hand. She moaned slightly, feeling pain on her side. She felt as if she had fallen from a very high bed and landed on the hard wooden floor. Adjusting her vision while blinking and staring straight ahead, she saw that Rufus was staring at her like he was watching her… and they were both on the floor.

He was the on holding her hand. Much to her surprise, he had a very worried look in his eyes, although his facial expression looked so stiff.

She wondered how he got to the floor after remembering that she had passed out moments ago. "I…" she slowly sat up.

"Careful," he told her as he let go of her.

She rubbed the back of her head as she stared with a dumbfounded look at the wheelchair. "Did you fall off!" she exclaimed as she instantly got on her feet and stooped down again to help him up. He was just quiet as she helped him back on his wheelchair.

"Why did you let yourself fall off?" she demanded in worry as she dusted him.

He couldn't look at her. He just stared at his own lap, thinking of what to say to her.

She clutched his shoulders, "Rufus, why won't you answer me?" she asked.

He slowly looked up at her. The look in his eyes made her heart sink… and she suddenly felt tears welling in her eyes when reality struck her again: she was going to die. She slowly released him and backed off, pursing her lips so that he wouldn't see them tremble. She turned away and took a rugged deep breath.

"Give me Cloud's number." He murmured.

She swallowed hard before facing him again. "What?"

"Give me Cloud's number." He repeated sternly.

"Are you out of your mind?" she demanded.

He just smiled slightly at her. "Maybe I am." He said.

She went to him. "Don't say that!" she told him as she knelt down before him. "Do you want to die! I thought you wanted to change the world?" she asked.

"How can I change the world when it's all too late now?" he snapped at her.

"What do you mean it's too late? For _you_, is that it? No, it isn't for you but it is for me!" she pointed out.

"If it's too late for you then it is already the same for me." He said stiffly.

She got his hand. "What are you saying?" she asked. He felt her hand… it was so cold. He has never seen her look so afraid before; but even though she was afraid, she still tried to act like nothing is happening. He has seen fear in her eyes two years ago when he told her of her death in the gas chamber in Junon… and while she was inside the gas chamber and he was in the surveillance room watching her secretly. He shook his head. "What are you afraid of, Tifa?" he asked her softly.

She shook her head as she felt tears in her eyes ready to fall.

"You don't have to be afraid, Tifa…" he said softly as he moved forward to embrace her.

Her tears fell as she slowly wrapped her trembling arms around him too. "…then promise me you'll survive this…" she said with a voice that seemed to falter as she spoke.

He looked at their reflection on her dresser mirror and studied his own facial expression. He was frowning. Deep inside, he was feeling angry because of the situation that Tifa was facing. And Vincent just went off without saying anything. What if something happens to him and they don't know it? And then Tifa will die tomorrow at early evening.

Who will take care of him? Marlene and Denzel?

"Rufus," she began softly, interrupting his thoughts.

He looked down at her with a stiff look on his face. She looked up at him with tearstained eyes. "…will you be with me when I die?"

He was quiet for a while before slowly nodding his head.

She smiled lovingly at him. "…thank you." She said softly before resting her head on his lap. He just took a deep breath as he moved his hand to stroke her hair gently.

Unknown to them, Denzel was watching them from the doorway with a curious look on his face, but he turned away to go back to his room. As he entered, he wondered what Marlene was doing. She was seated on the floor drawing something on paper with crayons. Denzel took a peek over her shoulders and observed her drawing. It resembled the position in which he saw Tifa and Rufus in the other room, with her seated before him and her head resting on his lap while he was stroking her hair… but there another person in the drawing: a girl with long brown hair wearing a pink dress was holding the wheelchair where Rufus was seated.

oOoOo

Vincent Valentine finally woke up when he heard birds chirping. He couldn't believe that he had slept for so long when he looked at the clock tower and saw that it was already 11:30 in the morning. He must've been really tired and stressed out during the past night. He got up slowly and scanned the whole area. It looked different with sunlight. Deciding to check if Cloud was there, he went over to the altar again and then checked the flowerbed. No one was there. The gas lamp was still on so he decided to switch it off.

"What are you doing?" asked a voice from behind him.

He turned around to see Cloud standing behind him with a frown on his face. "Cloud," he began.

"You're here." Cloud pointed out.

Vincent shrugged. "Well I… just thought I'd check you out to see if you're alright. You just took off yesterday without saying a word." He fibbed.

Cloud studied the look in Vincent's eyes before turning away. "I'm going to Sector 5 to eat lunch. You want to come along?" he asked simply. Vincent was surprised at his sudden invitation. "…y…yes, that would be splendid. I'm quite starving…" was all he replied before following after Cloud.

"And maybe we could talk about your matter…" Cloud told him.

Vincent felt relieved. "Finally…" he thought silently to himself. "Of course. Thank you for reconsidering." He said with a slight smile on his face.

Cloud just kept a straight face as they continued to walk going to Sector 5. They were silent for the rest of the walk until they finally found a restaurant where they could sit and dine. While waiting for their orders, Vincent finally took the initiative to talk, "Tifa will die tonight."

Cloud looked up at him in awe, but he was speechless.

Vincent kept his eye on him, "We just found out last night the reason for the deaths…" he began. Cloud was still quiet so he went on, "Whoever has your number will receive the strange call from the woman who sounds like Aerith… and then will die 24 hours later." He explained.

Cloud just gaped unbelievably at him. "…so you're blaming _me_?" he asked in awe.

"I didn't say that I'm blaming you. I just confirmed to you that whoever has your number…" Vincent began to reason, but Cloud cut him off, "Well it is _my_ number!" he exclaimed.

"Answer me straight, Cloud, do you know anything about this?" Vincent asked calmly.

"No, I don't! I don't understand anything from this either! Now tell me, where are the others? Really." Cloud answered with a stern look on his face.

"They're dead, Cloud. And now Tifa is next." Vincent said.

"Well what do you want me to do about it?" Cloud demanded.

Vincent was quiet for a while before asking, "Do you hear Aerith or… do you even dream of her?"

Cloud was surprised at the question. "I..." he felt dumbfounded. He swallowed hard as he clenched his fists. He bowed down his head as his frown deepened. "I… wish I could… but… no, I don't…" he said softly as his right hand mindlessly traveled under the long loose sleeve of his left arm and touched the pink ribbon tied around his arm. "… I… don't…" he said rather bitterly.

Vincent looked away, inhaling and then exhaling slowly, not knowing how to react or what else to say.

"Tell me honestly, Vincent… do you think Aerith _really_ has something to do with these deaths?" Cloud asked with a low tone.

Vincent blinked and bowed down his head. "…Yes."

For the rest of the time that they were together, they were just quiet. Vincent wondered what was going on in Cloud's mind, but couldn't determine how to read him. On the way back to the Church, Vincent was the one leading the way and Cloud trailed behind him, keeping his eyes on the ground and his hands clenched into fists.

Upon arriving at the Church, Vincent checked the time on the clock tower once more and it read 2:00pm. Lunch took longer than expected because Cloud ate rather slowly. Vincent led the way to the altar to look at the flowerbed again, wanting to ask questions. "Cloud, you think we can still save Tifa?" he asked.

Silence.

Vincent frowned slightly.

He turned his head to the side, "Cloud?" looking at his peripheral vision, but Cloud was not there anymore… instead, he saw another person.

Lucrecia… and standing behind her was Sephiroth.

Vincent gasped in shock upon what he had just seen… and Lucrecia smiled at him, reaching out her hand to him. "_Vincent_," she said softly.

He reached out to her… Sephiroth smiled. "_Finally, mother, you can be together_…" he heard him say.

Vincent froze. "…Finally?" he thought to himself. And then he felt something stab him from behind. It even went through his gut. He was caught off-guard by the vision that he had seen that he did not notice that Cloud was just there behind him with his Ultima Weapon… and he just stabbed him while he was off-guard.

Vincent's eyes were wide in terror as he stared at the blade and at his own blood. He swallowed hard.

Cloud had a cold look on his face as he looked up at Vincent from behind, still clutching the handle of his sword. "Aerith can never kill anyone… she can never…" he hissed.

Vincent slowly raised his eyes up at the wooden planks above him when he heard someone singing up there and seated on one of the planks. "_Why do birds suddenly appear everytime you are near?..._" his eyes widened when he saw Aerith looking down at them and smiling sweetly.

Cloud withdrew his sword from Vincent's gut and watched as his old friend fell to the ground and looking so stunned. Vincent stared straight ahead, feeling so guilty for himself. He should have been more aware… but he let his own whims affect him.

Whims?

But it seemed so real…

And then he heard footsteps approaching him… until a pair of red-brown boots came into his view. He recognized Aerith's feet. She stooped down and touched his face and then placed her palm over his eyes, shielding the light from him. "_Time to sleep, Vincent._" He heard her say softly…


	7. Close to You

Missed Call

Note from generalquistis: Readers who negatively judge this fic via summary, go to hell. You have no life. Bad critics are wannabes and losers who weren't able to prove themselves in the arts anyway. Whateverrrrr.  
And for those who continued to support this fic, thank you very much. I'm taking note of you guys and you inspire me and Zhakeena to write and to do our best to please you readers.  
Note from Zhak: Thank you so much for reading this fic. I'm pretty sure none of you are morons, right? So if you have anything to say, say it with thought and logic. :)

But this isn't the last chapter.

* * *

Chapter Six: Close to You 

Tifa carefully but quickly wheeled Rufus across the street going to Sector 6. Time was running out, so they just decided to go and find Cloud and talk to him by themselves just in case Vincent failed to do so; after all, the other guy hasn't returned yet to tell them if he was successful in convincing Cloud to help them.

"You think the children will be alright there?" Rufus asked with a frown on his face.

"They'll be alright. I told them to just stay in their room." Tifa replied as she rounded the corner going to the church. People were staring strangely at them as they passed by, but they just ignored them.

"Something happened to Vincent, I just know it…" Rufus muttered.

Tifa was quiet, thinking of the same thing. "What time is it?" she asked, wanting to change the subject regarding Vincent. "It's 5:00pm. You received the message at 6:15." He replied with a deep frown on his face.

She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Don't worry, Tifa, you're going to make it." She told herself quietly as she crossed another street with Rufus.

Finally, they arrived in the Church. Tifa stopped to catch her breath as she stared up at the church. "You alright, Rufus?" she asked.

"…well… you missed the open manhole wherein I could easily fall if you didn't. I guess I am alright." He said with a slight smile on his face. A little humor might help cheer her up… probably.

She chuckled lightly, but she still sounded nervous.

He motioned for her to go on. "Let's go inside." He told her.

Taking another deep breath, she slowly wheeled Rufus inside the church. While passing through the aisle towards the altar, Rufus was looking around curiously with a deep frown on his face, having several thoughts on his head. "How will she die? Will she suffer a morbid death just like the others? Or will she just disappear?" he was thinking to himself. Clutching the armrests of his wheelchair, he stared straight ahead and narrowed his eyes, "Stop." He told her.

She obeyed. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"You stay here." He told her.

"What?" she asked.

"You heard me…" he muttered as he struggled to stand up. He is recuperating from Geostigma and from the side-effects of the explosion of the 70th floor 2 years ago caused by Diamond Weapon, but he knows that if he tries hard enough, he could stand up and walk. Tifa was shocked. "Rufus, what are you doing!" she asked as she clutched his shoulders to force him back onto his wheelchair, but he retaliated, shook his shoulders away from her grasp and took his first step with a trembling left leg, forcing himself to keep his balance.

Tifa was nervous for him. The ground was dirty and if he falls down, it would be very unsanitary for a sick person like him… and knowing how he likes to keep himself clean… she took an initiative to approach him, but he snapped at her with her with a loud booming voice, "I said stay there! I don't want anything bad happening to you! God knows how you're gonna die… I want to make sure that you are safe before that happens."

She pursed her lips, wanting to cry. She took a step backward and just turned away from him, and as she faced the entrance of the Church, she thought she saw Aerith standing there with a basket of flowers… and the Flower Girl even smiled at her. She gasped slightly, but Rufus didn't seem to notice. Tifa just covered her mouth and swallowed hard, turning back to Rufus. She was already shaking and near to tears. She was so afraid but she didn't know how to express herself to him at that moment.

Rufus was able to reach the altar faster than she could have imagined… and he was staring at one particular area of it. The flowerbed.

She wondered what was going on so she rushed to him… and saw what he was looking at: Vincent Valentine.

She screamed in terror and covered her face, hiding behind Rufus as tears finally fell from her eyes.

Rufus still eyed the corpse with a baffled look in his eyes. "He… he didn't receive a call or anything… did he?" he had managed to ask.

"No he didn't." said a voice from behind them.

They both fell silent.

Tifa removed her hands from her face and saw Cloud Strife glaring at them from a distance. She swallowed hard and took a step backward to Rufus's side. "C…Cloud…" she forced herself to say, wanting to sound calm.

Rufus turned his head to the side to look at Cloud from his peripheral vision. "You killed him, didn't you?" he demanded casually.

"He is blaming Aerith for our friends' death." Cloud turned to Tifa. "Now you're next. Let's see how you die so that maybe we can prove to ourselves that Aerith isn't capable of doing such morbid things." He sneered.

Rufus turned to face him. He was beginning to feel tired because he has exerted enough force to make himself stand up and walk, but he still tried to keep his balance. "Such insolence. You don't care whether Tifa dies or not?" he demanded.

Cloud just smiled slightly. "Oh yes, I care about Tifa's life. But I don't like it when people like her and Vincent desecrate the memory of Aerith by telling me that she is the one responsible for the occurring deaths around here!" he pointed out with an angry look in his eyes as he got his sword.

Tifa's first instinct was to step forward and protect Rufus from Cloud. She clenched her fists and did her fighting stance. "Rufus, go." She told him.

"What?" he demanded from her.

"I'll take care of this." She said courageously, but her eyes still indicated fear.

Rufus checked his watch and saw that it was already 5:30. He frowned slightly. "No." he decided.

"Well at least step aside!" she told him nervously as Cloud charged at her. But she knew Cloud's potential and she knows that she couldn't beat him easily… so she avoided his first move and grabbed Rufus's hand, dragging him with her towards the stairs. Her first plan was to escape Cloud… but she knew she made the wrong move of going upstairs to the ceiling area of the Church where the only decent flooring would be uneven wooden planks and beams. "Bloody brilliant, Tifa…" Rufus muttered as his frown deepened upon realizing how high up they were from the bottom. There were barrels around the area, probably used to catch water from the roof during rainy days, but they're useless now because the Church's roof itself is ruined.

"You weren't the brightest anyway, Tifa." Cloud told her as he finally reached the top. She turned towards him, trying to keep a steady heel on the wooden beam where she was standing with Rufus. Rufus grabbed her arms because he was really tired and would fall off easily. "Rufus… can't you stand it any longer?" she asked.

"Blimey, Tifa! You should've just ran outside!" he told her with a ridiculous look on his face.

"Rufus is right, Tifa. You're just endangering yourself now… and poor Rufus. You just made things worse for him." Cloud told her before turning his gaze to Rufus. "Don't worry, Rufus, if Tifa dies, I'll still be here to take care of you and the children." He said with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"You leave the children alone, you nasty…" Tifa snapped at him.

"No thank you. I can manage on my own." Rufus told him with a disgusted look on his face.

Cloud finally charged at them. "Hell!" Rufus cussed in surprise. Tifa just pushed him away from herself so that she could dodge Cloud decently and maybe give him an uppercut. She succeeded in the dodging part. She jumped off and landed onto another beam, trying to maintain her balance. Rufus tried to maintain his balance, stooping down in a genuflecting position and holding onto a wooden plank. He was panting hard. His body has not yet conditioned itself back to its original state of health to handle those kinds of adrenalin-rush which he still hasn't felt for quite a long while already. He just wished that Cloud would stop attacking Tifa. "Is this how her life is going to end?" he was thinking in confusion. He checked his watch again and it read 5:30. "Bloody hell…" he muttered before taking a deep breath, "Cloud, enough!" he commanded impatiently.

Cloud just sneered and continued to attack Tifa.

Tifa was already having a hard time keeping her balance. Cloud was too fast for her and at one point, she almost fell off from one of the beams she was stepping on when he successfully slashed her on her right arm. She backed off a little, leaning against a vertical beam and panting hard, her left hand clutching her bleeding right arm. She could tell that the wound was very deep because it was bleeding hard and it really hurt. She sniffed, near to tears, "Cloud, please don't do this to me… _for the sake of Aerith_, DON'T!" she yelled helplessly at him as he approached her with a cold look on his face.

"Shit… he's gone all sixes-and-sevens!" Rufus muttered as his frown deepened, "Cloud, no!" he yelled at him. "Aerith doesn't want you harming your friends!" he pointed out.

Cloud turned to face him. "What do you know about Aerith, ShinRa? You're nothing but someone who just contributed to her death in the first place!" he answered back.

"For crying out loud, Cloud, if you would just help us out here maybe _I_ could help you!" Rufus snapped back at him as he struggled to stand up. "Tifa is going to die at 6:15 and you don't even give a damn about it! I thought you were friends?" he demanded impatiently.

Tifa cringed when he heard her time of death. "Gee, thanks for reminding me…" she was thinking with a bitter look on her face as she bit her lower lip and sniffed again. "Cloud… I'm… not sure if I really did anything bad to you… but…" she felt tears welling up in her eyes. He just stopped in his tracks and stared straight ahead at Rufus while listening to Tifa. "I… I'm sorry if I thought that I loved you even if I really didn't…" she stammered.

Cloud smiled slightly, puzzling Rufus.

"I was blinded by… being alone… and…" she continued, but stopped when Cloud cut her off, "…and now you're not alone anymore because you hooked up with the villain." He sneered. She felt her heart skip a beat when she heard that.

Rufus took a glance at his watch again. It still read 5:30. He began to feel panic rise to his senses. "GODDAMMIT! My watch stopped!" his mind was screaming. He looked at the skies outside. Dark orangey-dark blue…

Late sunset.

He tried to remember the situation of the skies yesterday, but couldn't focus because Cloud was already approaching Tifa again.

"Cloud, Rufus isn't a villain anymore!" she snapped at him.

He stopped in his tracks and just looked down at her as she fell onto a sitting position. He clutched the handle of his sword tightly before turning around to face Rufus again.

Rufus stared at him in disbelief. "Cloud, I ask of you to stop this insanity now!" he told him sternly.

Tifa's grip on her own arm tightened. "…Cloud…" she said softly as if begging for mercy… and she froze when she heard a familiar voice singing: "_Why do birds suddenly appear everytime you are near?_..."

Her eyes widened and she took a peek down on the ground floor… and her eyes widened as she gasped upon seeing Aerith standing by another flower bed, holding a basket of flowers and looking up at her… smiling sweetly at her… and standing behind her were Yuffie, Elena, Reno, Rude, Vincent, Barret and Cid.

"…CLOUD!" Tifa screamed in panic, keeping her gaze on everyone downstairs. "RUFUS!" she continued as she struggled to get up, wanting to run to him, but she froze when she saw Cloud approaching Rufus already. "NO!" she rushed after Cloud and jumped onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck in an attempt to strangle him to make him stop… but they are going to fall off. Rufus was surprised by her sudden action.

"I won't let you harm him!" Tifa snarled at Cloud's ear.

"Let me go you…" he elbowed her abdomen, causing her to take a sharp intake of air due to the intense pain she felt. She slowly let go of him and backed off, clutching her abdomen. She fell backwards against Rufus. He held onto another beam so that they wouldn't fall off. Cloud was coughing, trying to breathe normally again.

"Tifa," Rufus began with a frown on his face as he tried to ease her pain.

Tifa has had enough. She clenched her fists, glaring angrily at Cloud as the song that Aerith was singing kept on ringing in her head. "_…why do stars fall down from the sky everytime you walk by? Just like me, they long to be close to you…"_

She instantly got up and rushed to Cloud. "Cloud, I'm sorry!" her mind was screaming as she finally pushed him off. Rufus watched in shock as Cloud fell off… down… and landed on one of the flowerbeds. There was a loud thudding sound when Cloud landed on it.

Tifa was panting hard as she gazed down at Cloud's unmoving body on the flowerbed below. She shrieked in frustration, her voice echoing all throughout the Church. Rufus cringed.

Tifa swallowed hard, tears were streaming down her face. "THERE YOU GO! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW! CLOUD IS DEAD! THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN, RIGHT? YOU WANT TO REACH HIM THROUGH US BUT WE COULDN'T GET THE MESSAGE SO YOU KILL US! ALL BECAUSE HE WOULDN'T LISTEN TO US WHEN WE TELL HIM THAT YOU NEED HIM!" She screamed angrily.

Rufus was quiet for a while, looking down at his white clothes. It had been stained by Tifa's blood already. But he didn't care. He just smiled slightly, thankful that it was all over… and then he looked up at her again as he remained seated… and his eyes widened in horror when he saw Sephiroth standing beside Tifa and looking down at Cloud too. "TIFA!" he cried out in shock. Tifa turned to look at Rufus, but then she felt a heavy large hand push her forward.

Rufus felt as if the world spun around him as he watched her fall off. She screamed. And then she landed on the wooden floor beside the flowerbed where Cloud had fallen. Rufus looked down at her with tears in his eyes, feeling the blood drain from his face. Her arm left arm looked twisted and her neck was broken. Blood was coming out from her mouth and head. She must've cracked her skull too. Her legs looked broken too.

And he remembered Marlene's drawing…

He clenched his fists, narrowing his eyes as he swallowed hard, forcing himself to stand up and holding onto one of the vertical beams for support. He still kept his eyes on Tifa and he felt like going crazy. Leaning against the vertical beam, he reached for his mobile phone inside his pocket and pulled it out, staring frustratingly at it. Then he looked ahead of him, staring at Aerith Gainsborough with a cold look on his face. She just smiled sadly at him and shook her head gently. He just frowned at her and threw his mobile phone at her. He watched quietly as his mobile phone landed on the beam in front of Aerith's feet. It flipped open by itself and it began to ring. It was his usual ringing tone. Aerith picked it up and pressed the answer button, but it was on loud speaker mode.

It sounded like static at first, but then they could finally hear a voice speaking though it was still unclear: "R…Rufus? Rufus?"

His eyes widened upon recognizing the voice. He took a step forward towards Aerith. "…Tifa," he muttered. Aerith just stared blankly at the screen of the mobile phone. Rufus looked down at Tifa again. She was still there… but… how!

Then, he noticed Aerith approaching him. He turned to look at her. She had this sad smile on her face, and as she finally reached him, she handed the phone to him. He hesitantly grabbed it from her and stared at the screen. The call has ended already.

He fell on his knee in a genuflecting position before Aerith. She knelt down before him and touched his hands. She felt so real… so alive. He just stared at her hands on his as he listened to her sing, "_On the day that you were born, the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true…_

He slowly looked at her face, but his eyes widened when he noticed something loom from behind him. Aerith's facial expression changed from sad to mortified as her mouth let out a silent scream as she looked up at the person who just arrived behind Rufus. Rufus turned around and saw Sephiroth. "What the…" he thought in shock before he felt Sephiroth's hands grab his shoulders and then pushed him off.

Rufus's eyes were wide in terror but he wasn't able to say anything more. His mouth was slightly open in shock as he fell… His hand reached out to Aerith. She reached out to him as if wanting to save him but couldn't. The next thing that Rufus felt was pain when he landed on his back beside Tifa. He still stared up, watching Aerith cry, but Sephiroth wasn't there anymore. Rufus's grip on his mobile phone loosened as he exhaled his last breath.


	8. Epilogue

Epilogue: It is Only the Beginning

oOoOo

Cloud Strife slowly opened his eyes and grunted as he forced himself to sit up while rubbing the back of his head. "Damn…" he thought. It was already beginning to get darker and darker by the minute. Carefully, he got up with wobbly legs. He still felt shaken due to the fall. He turned back to the flowerbed where he landed. He blinked in wonder. It saved him again… just like the first time. He took a deep breath, shuddering as he gazed around… and then he heard a phone ringing.

_Aerith's theme_.

He searched for the sound, following it… and it led him to where Tifa and Rufus were lying on the ground and dead. It was Rufus's mobile phone ringing. The screen was exposed so Cloud picked up the phone and stared at it. There was no number flashing on the screen. Frowning slightly, he answered it but didn't say anything.

"…_On the day that you were born the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true. So they sprinkled moondust in your hair; of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue…"_ he heard a soft and gentle feminine voice sing from the other line.

He smiled slightly upon hearing it, recognizing the voice, but he was interrupted when he heard a child's voice from the entrance of the church. "Cloud?"

Cloud turned to Marlene who was standing by the entrance with Denzel, staring curiously at him.

The call ended. Cloud blinked and stared at the screen again. Then he closed the phone and placed it in his pocket with his own mobile phone before running towards the children. "What are you kids doing here?" he asked in concern.

"It's getting dark. We got scared so we decided to find you so that you can stay with us for a while." Marlene said with a sad look on her face.

Cloud blinked. "Well… where's Tifa?" he asked hesitantly.

"She called up the house before we left. She said she won't be home for some time… but we should not worry because she is with Rufus in a far-away place now." Marlene explained with a sad smile on her face. Denzel was looking up at Cloud with a dazed look on his face before turning to the woman in pink who was standing beside Cloud. She was smiling softly at him. Denzel smiled back at her.

Cloud wondered why Denzel was smiling but didn't bother to ask why. He just took their hands and led the way out of the Church. "Oh well… looks like we'll just have to all live together in Tifa's house. Don't worry, I'll take care of you guys." He just said simply.

"Really? Yay!" Marlene cheered happily.

Denzel looked up at the woman again. She patted his head. "You're going to be safe. I'll be with Cloud, don't worry." She said softly. Denzel smiled and nodded his head.

Cloud helped them hop onto his Fenrir before he got on. He started the engine, and Marlene began to sing, "_Why do birds suddenly appear everytime you are near?_"

Cloud chuckled lightly. "Where did you learn that old song?" he asked in amazement.

Marlene just shrugged. "Hmm… somewhere… I think she taught it to me…" she replied.

"She?" Cloud asked.

Marlene did not answer. She just continued to sing as they sped off to Sector 7.

* * *

The end. (?)... 


End file.
